Child protection training take-up drops, according to Ceop figures

The annual report of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, published today (31 May), reveals the number of professionals trained by the organisation fell to 2,084 in 2010/11, a fall of 38.2 per cent on the 2009/10 figure of 3,370. In 2008/09, the figure stood at 3,734.

The figures are in sharp contrast to statistics on numbers of children safeguarded, numbers of arrests made and numbers of offender networks dismantled, all of which increased over the past 12 months.

A total of 414 children were safeguarded in 2010/11 – a rise of 49 per cent – while 513 arrests were made – up 23 per cent on the previous year. A total of 132 high-risk sex offender networks were smashed, up 38 per cent.

Peter Davies, head of Ceop, said the improvements made had been a result of forging partnerships across sectors.

"This delivers real value for money and huge economies of scale and allows us to venture into new ways of infiltrating complex offender networks, mapping and identifying the common themes and trends of offender behaviour, of working collectively to make environments safer by design and in reaching children in ways that are contemporary, relevant and dynamic.

"Crimes against children are for me the most horrendous crimes and too many times the victim suffers in silence.

"We need to encourage ever more reporting and understanding, we need to work to prevent the crime happening in the first place and we need to pursue the offender no matter how complex the methods they use to hide their activity."

In February, Davies told CYP Now Ceop is facing a number of challenges, including the threat of emerging technologies to the safety of children and pressure on budgets.

He said he is keen to strengthen the training programme and see more people attend courses.