NSPCC chief Peter Wanless who is leading a review into how the Home Office handled historical allegations of child abuse, has stated that people who cover up such crimes should be prosecuted.
Wanless also said there should be a positive obligation on institutions like hospitals, children's homes and boarding schools to report abuse.Although, the NSPCC had previously opposed all forms of mandatory reporting,new inquiries into child abuse could inspire changes to the law.
The chief executive of the child protection charity is heading the review looking at concerns that the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse contained in a dossier handed over in the 1980s by former MP Geoffrey Dickens. Mr Wanless said;
"If someone consciously knows that there is a crime committed against a child, and does nothing about it because they put the reputation of the organisation above the safety of that child, that should be a criminal offence."
He also added that the NSPCC would be open to opinions on what form the law should take.
Alan Wardle, head of policy at the NSPCC, said that the charity’s priority is to criminalise the "act of cover up". He said:
"What we've got to do is find a way that people protect children first and ensure that their reputation is not the primary concern.That's a problem we've seen in some of these institutions, the institutional cover up where child abuse has been swept under the carpet and not dealt with.People have been quietly moved on to abuse children in other institutions."
Furthermore, Alan Wood, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services called for a system that is more open, saying:
"We're against anything that makes the system more complex, we have to give much more confidence to people in the system. We're against anything that makes the system more complex, we have to give much more confidence to people in the system.I'm not sure the first step is to move towards mandatory requirement for reporting because people need to be confident that they can report effectively, people need to be confident that they're reporting the right thing."
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