The plans to integrate national work to combat organised crime, protect UK borders as well as tackle serious fraud and child exploitation into the new agency were outlined by Home Secretary Theresa May in parliament yesterday.
But Christine Beddoe, director of Ecpat UK (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), fears work to protect children will be sidelined in the new organisation.
She said: "What the government has done is to bundle up all its specialised crime units and put them all into one place without thinking it through properly.
"The clear focus of the new agency is to tackle organised crime and protect UK borders. We have real concerns this will dilute child protection work."
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