ahagwearsapointybonnet
Sarah Champion MP writing in the Times this week:
'Children need protecting in all settings, not just at school'
(extract)
"If you leave your child in the care of an adult professional, you would assume that the law would apply evenly if they failed in their duty to safeguard. However, due to a legal loophole, as the law currently stands it is illegal for a teacher — but not a faith leader or sports coach — to engage in sexual activity with a 16 or 17-year-old under their supervision.
As chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on safeguarding in faith settings, I am publishing a report that calls on the government to extend the definition of a ‘position of trust’ to cover any adult regularly involved in caring for, training or supervising a child.
Evidence submitted to the APPG’s inquiry into ‘positions of trust’ found current legislation to be inadequate for protecting young people from adults who would groom and abuse them.
The scale of the problem is hard to determine, due in part to the legality of the act itself, but figures previously obtained by the NSPCC from local authorities showed that between 2014 and 2018, over 650 complaints were made about adults in professions not covered by the existing position of trust law having sex with children in their care.
The APPG’s inquiry found that adults holding positions in faith organisations are perceived as having authority, power and influence within their communities — and the opportunities to abuse that power are significant as a result. Furthermore, we heard that many people feel a sense of powerlessness that can exacerbate the power dynamic in relationships, making it hard to speak up about concerns." (continues)
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-need-protecting-in-all-settings-not-just-at-school-7wdmfj6kk
this loophole with regards sexual consent& 'Positions ofTrust' also applies to adults running many youth groups, choirs, drama groups etc see www.emmottsnell.co.uk/blog/sexual-consent-and-positions-of-trust