Home Office announces £40m for projects to tackle child abuse

The package includes an additional £20m for the National Crime Agency to target online child sexual exploitation (CSE), while a further £2.2m is being handed to organisations working to protect children at risk of trafficking through the government's Child Trafficking Protection Fund.

The government said the £20m committed to the NCA until 2020 will allow it to "maintain its enhanced investigative capabilities". The Child Trafficking Protection Fund money will go to seven charities for projects protecting vulnerable children in the UK and overseas who are at risk of trafficking.

The Home Office has also officially announced the launch of the National Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which will be backed with £7.5m of funding up to 2020. As revealed by CYP Now last month, children's charity Barnardo's has been appointed as the lead organisation running the centre.

It will be working with a number of partner organisations including the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Action for Children, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, NHS England and Wales, the College of Policing, and seven universities.

The centre will aim to bring together social care, health and justice professionals and academics to gather and share evidence of successful schemes in preventing abuse and CSE. Its launch comes more than 18 months after it was first proposed in March 2015 as part of the government's child sexual exploitation plan.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "Children should be able to grow up free from the horrors of sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking. Something that should go without saying, but sadly that's not the case.

"Since 2010, the government has done more than any other to tackle these horrific offences.

"We have increased support for victims of sexual abuse, invested in training and technology to improve law enforcement's response to abuse both on and offline, and brought in a tougher inspection regime to ensure all frontline professions are meeting their child protection duties.

"But there is more to do, the measures I am announcing today will further improve our ability to protect children, and under my watch I am determined to bring those that would try to steal their childhood to justice."

Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan said the centre of expertise will allow a deeper understanding of sexual abuse so that more children can be protected and helped to recover.

"We will use our collective experience and expertise to develop a greater understanding of what works in the fight against child sexual abuse and to improve responses," he said.