News

Ministers have launched a national plan for tackling commercial child sexual exploitation.

The National Plan for Safeguarding Children for Commercial Sexual Exploitation outlines what the government and agencies are doing to protect children globally from being drawn into prostitution, sex tourism, pornography and exploitation over the internet.

Published jointly by the department of health and the home office, the plan says government efforts are concentrating on three key areas: ensuring that guidance to protect children from being involved in prostitution is being implemented; promoting guidance on the safe use of the internet to parents, schools and children; and fostering international co-operation to assess the scale of, and combat, the sexual exploitation of children.

Health minister Jacqui Smith said the task of safeguarding children was continuous, and the plan would be developed year on year to ensure that it continued to focus on priorities for action.

"We all have a duty to protect these children and must do everything in our power to remove those who gain from their exploitation," she said.

Chris Atkinson, policy advisor on child protection at the NSPCC, welcomed the national plan, but said its priorities for future action needed to be recognised if the plan was to work.