In a statement issued to CYP Now, Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson and shadow children's minister Emma Lewell-Buck say a government consultation held earlier this year proposed either a "duty to report" suspicions of or known child abuse and neglect, or a "duty to act", but Labour wants both duties to be introduced together.
"One identifies the need and the other drives an active response. We need both," the statement says.
"We cannot wait until children are abused to act. The first action is to report but it cannot be the last."
The government has said the "starting position" for either a duty to report or a duty to act would be that it would apply to practitioners or organisations that undertake activities that bring them into "close and frequent" contact with children, such as those working in education, childcare, social care and healthcare and law enforcement.
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