The number of care applications in England has risen by 70 per cent in the four years since the Baby P case, latest figures show. Statistics released by Cafcass show that there has also been a proportional rise in the number of care applications between 2008/09 and 2012/13. The number of applications per 10,000 children has risen from 5.9 to 9.7, an increase of 64 per cent.
Children are being placed at risk as a result of child sex offenders being able to apply to have their names removed from the sex offenders’ register, a charity has claimed. Ecpat UK has raised concerns over the methodology used by police to decide whether convicted offenders no longer pose a threat to children in the UK or abroad. Bharti Patel, chief executive of Ecpat, said, “Removing offenders from the sex offenders’ register is a dangerous step, as it removes the main method of monitoring to prevent reoffending.”
The BBC has reported comments from barrister Barbara Hewson in which she calls for the age of consent to be lowered to 13. Hewson reportedly told online magazine Spiked that the move was necessary in the wake of the Savile scandal and that complainants should no longer receive anonymity. The NSPCC called her views "outdated and simply ill-informed".
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