In 2017 the Family Education Trust published its landmark report Unprotected: How the normalisation of underage sex is exposing children and young people to the risk of sexual exploitation. Drawing on a number of serious case reviews and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, Unprotected revealed fundamental flaws in professional attitudes towards children and young people and towards underage sexual activity. The evidence revealed that:
— many professionals had a complacent attitude towards underage sexual activity, as long as there was no great age disparity, this was often seen as a normal part of growing up
— a professional readiness to routinely provide contraception to young people under the legal age of consent in confidence, without considering the possibility that they may be suffering abuse;
— a tendency to dismiss the concerns of parents;
— an inclination to treat children under the age of 16 as adults with the competence to make their own decisions with regard to sexual activity.
In October 2022 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its final report, The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. At 438 pages the report draws on ‘the Inquiry’s 15 investigations and 19 related investigation reports, the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and 41 other Inquiry reports and publications.’ It reveals that an estimated 3.1 million adults in England and Wales have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16 and that 1 in 6 girls and 1 in 20 boys experience such abuse while still under 16. The report makes 20 recommendations some of which we will discuss below.
Unprotected issued 13 recommendations which revolved around the following central themes: recovering the age of consent, reconsidering the confidential provision of contraceptive advice and treatment to under-16s, restoring respect for parents in sex and relationships education, abolishing the notion of ‘rights’ in relation to the sexual activity of children and young people and discouraging the use of resources that undermine the age of consent such as the Brook Traffic Light Tool.
Below we shall comment on how well the inquiry report has encompassed these recommendations, if at all.
Inquiry Report versus Unprotected
- Age of Consent
Unprotected called for Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance relating to the law on the age of consent to be revised. It stated:
Revised guidance should ensure that consensual sex between children and young people under the age of 16 is not condoned and that appropriate action is taken to ensure that those who engage in underage sex are left in no doubt that they have committed a criminal offence and cautioned accordingly.
Sadly, the inquiry report, while stating that sexual activity under 13 must always be reported, does not see sexual activity between those aged 13-16 as a major problem. Paragraph 99 of the report states:
The Inquiry…recommends that where the sexual activity relates to a child…between 13 and under 16 years old, a mandated person should not be required to make a report when he or she knows or reasonably believes that all of the following to be true:
- the relationship between the parties is consensual and not intimidatory, exploitative or coercive; and
- the child has not been harmed and is not at risk of being harmed; and
- there is no material difference in capacity or maturity between the parties engaged in the sexual activity concerned, and there is a difference in age of no more than three years.
This effectively makes it possible for professionals to continue taking a complacent attitude to underage sex and regarding it as a normal part of growing up.
- Confidential provision of contraceptive advice to under-16s
Unprotected called for the Department of Health to:
…review its guidance on the provision of advice and treatment to young people under 16 on contraception, sexual and reproductive health. There should be no further provision of contraceptive advice to young people under the age of 16. Where sexually active young people under the age of consent are seeking advice in relation to sexually transmitted infections or abortion, there should be a requirement that their parent or legal guardian is notified.
Our report further advocated that the General Medical Council, Public Health England and government departments should amend guidance that allows provision of contraception to under-16s.
While the inquiry report does state that a child seeking contraceptive advice may be an indicator of child sexual abuse it goes on to state that this is effectively not something to worry about. Having called for mandatory reporting of ‘indicators of sexual abuse’ the report then goes on to make an exception:
An exception to the mandatory reporting regime is therefore essential. Without it, for example, a teenager (in a relationship with someone close in age) who seeks advice on contraception or sexual health may worry that a formal report will be made to the police or social services and that there may be an investigation into the circumstances of their relationship. This is likely to deter young people in non-abusive relationships from seeking advice.
- Relationships and Sex Education
Unprotected made a number of recommendations regarding Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Sadly, legislation passed in the last few years is the polar opposite of what we recommended. RSE has been made mandatory and the parental right of withdrawal has been compromised.
Therefore, the recommendation that has perhaps the most immediate relevance to the current report is the following:
The Department for Education should write to all schools, stressing the need to consult parents about their sex and relationships education provision, in line with current departmental guidance. Schools should be advised that they must uphold and teach the law on the age of consent and that they must not in any way condone sex under the age of 16.
The inquiry report makes very little reference to RSE however except to say that the inquiry heard ‘relationships and sex education in schools is not reflective of the challenges that children face’.
Thus, a great opportunity to highlight the mixed messages and inappropriate material frequently used in RSE has been wasted.
- Sex and children’s ‘rights’
Unprotected called for government departments to review all guidance ‘to ensure that it does not contain any suggestion that children and young people have a ‘right’ to sexual activity or to services designed to support sexual relationships under the age of 16.’
The inquiry report does not explicitly state any ‘right’ to sexual activity but as we have shown above it is apparently fine with under 16s seeking contraceptive advice and indeed engaging in sexual relationships as long as these are consensual and with people of similar age.
- Safeguarding tools that condone underage sex
Unprotected’s final recommendation was that:
All government departments should ensure that any safeguarding tool, and any advice or guidance that they provide or signpost, places a strong emphasis on the age of consent and in no way communicates the message that sexual activity under the age of 16 is a legitimate choice worthy of positive feedback.
This was primarily a reference to the Brook Traffic Light Tool which gave a green light to sex for those as young as 13 and declared such activity worthy of ‘positive feedback’. Unprotected also criticised guidance from the Sex Education Forum and PSHE Association.
Thankfully, none of these organisations are mentioned in the inquiry report. And there is no mention of Stonewall either. Nonetheless, the role that these organisations have played in sexualising children and encouraging the complacent attitudes towards teenage sex that allowed serious abuse to go unnoticed needs to be acknowledged. But perhaps that is expecting too much from a government-funded inquiry.
The Inquiry Report’s Recommendations
The Inquiry Report has 20 recommendations covering a wide variety of areas. These include improvements in data collection, the establishment of child protection authorities for England and Wales, compulsory registration of staff in children’s homes and young offender institutions and strengthening the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Perhaps the most positive recommendations are those calling for greater age verification for online services and social media platforms and for providers of search services to pre-screen for sexual images of children. The recommendation for mandatory reporting has received much news coverage but as we have described above under-age sex between 13–16-year-olds that is seen to be consensual and the seeking of contraceptive information by those of this age is exempted.
Another recommendation is for the creation of a cabinet-level Minister for Children. This may sound like a nice idea on the surface but it is likely to add an extra layer of bureaucracy to government and would almost certainly end up being hijacked by children’s rights radicals, the LGBT lobby and supporters of the most permissive sex education programmes.
Given the inquiry report’s failure to properly address issues around RSE and the undermining of the age of consent, Unprotected and its recommendations are more relevant than ever. Why not take this opportunity to order some copies and send to your MP, councillors, local children’s safeguarding officers, school teachers, police or other relevant groups or individuals.
Copies of Unprotected can be ordered at the following link for £9.00 per copy (including P & P) https://familyeducationtrust.org.uk/product/unprotected/