SSCB E Safety Strategy

STOCKPORT SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD

E-safety strategy 2011 - 2014

1. Introduction

The internet celebrates its 21st birthday in 2011 but it is less an acknowledgement of a ‘coming of age’ and more of an acceptance that digital technology is a continuous adaptive force. The development of digital technology has been a quiet revolution. It provides unprecedented instant access to worldwide information and communication – reaction and commentary forced to analyse, report and respond without the previous opportunity for measured reflection.

It has changed the way we work – electronic information systems, information exchange, information recording systems – the way we learn – remote e-learning, webinars, e-books and journals - and the way we socialise – online music and films, computer games that use body reactions, social networking sites, blogs - the way we shop, go on holiday, move about the world. It has its own offences: sexual offences, misuse of communications, harassment and bullying, identity fraud and theft, information sharing.

A whole generation of children and young people have never known a world without the internet. It is a natural medium where they are comfortable and proficient. The internet is central to their social lives.Belonging to a social networking site is the equivalent of belonging to a club and self-esteem is closely linked to their perceptions of their on-line popularity. Where children are not allowed to play in the road because of the perceived dangers from traffic and unscrupulous adults, they are allowed unsupervised and unrestricted access to the whole world because parents believe they are safe within the home.

Digital technology poses challenges to those responsible for the welfare of children and young people. Unlike other areas for safeguarding, digital technology draws in a population outside the areas of poverty and deprivation. In Stockport, the SSCB wishes to encourage safe and responsible use of digital technology by our children and young people, their parents and carers and by our workforce. The SSCB established an e-safety sub-group in January 2011 to deliver this e-safety strategy following the work undertaken by the previous e-safety task group. This document outlines the strategy and has the commitment of the SSCB partner agencies.

1. Context and scope

Not only is the sector subject to constant change but since the initial Stockport E-safety strategy was produced there have been significant changes to the national support structure for this agenda. BECTA has ceased to exist. Some of its functions – particularly those relating to schools - have transferred to the Department of Education and the remainder have transferred to UKCCIS. However the support to LSCB e-safety leads has been lost. A consortium, the UK Safer Internet Centre, comprising SWgFL and Childnet has taken over the national training contract from CEOP and now has the lead for Safer Internet Day. The RBC consortia have been disbanded and also the regional Government Offices which has had an impact on regional level support in the North West. The ICT Consultants who were key links with the Department for Education and curriculum developments were made redundant at the end of March 2011.

Recent budget announcement for all partner organisations in the Children Trust have identified significant challenges. In addition to the financial pressure, there is an emerging picture of the future commissioning and organisational arrangements for health related and council services, which will impact on how we shape and deliver our services to children and families of Stockport.

Under the Children Act 2004 (S11) and the Education Act 2002 (S157 & S175), all professionals have a duty to safeguard and promote the well-being of all children. This extends to all environments –home, schools and the wider community – and thereby requires an integrated, multi-agency, co-ordinated response. The updated Working Together to safeguard Children guidance (DCSF, 2010) included the use of technology.

The risks can be summarised as:

The Byron Review (2008) and the update report in 2010 identified the digital divide between the IT competent and literate children and young people and their parents, carers and the adult workforce. Adults’ lack of knowledge and competence raises their anxiety and invokes a controlling approach to risk management.

The NSPCC published a press release for Child Sexual Abuse images convictions on July 27th 2011. They analysed reports of court cases involving convictions for making, possessing or distributing indecent images of children in national and local media between April and September 2010. They reviewed 284 cases where there had been a conviction of possessing indecent images and found that in 98 cases the offenders had also been grooming children or had committed sexual assaults on under-16s. In one case an offender pleaded guilty to making or distributing over half a million (500,000) images; the total number in all the cases was nearly three million (2,999,014). The number of cautions and convictions at all courts for indecent images of children offences has risen from 62 in 1989, to 303 in 1999, and to 1619 in 2009.

NSPCC analysis in 2010 of 100 offenders whose cases had been reported in the press revealed:

•16 had previous or concurrent convictions for sexual assault on a child or grooming for sex

•One was female and the rest male

•47% were aged between 40-59, only one was under 19

•24 were in a position of trust

•10 offenders were hoarding images for 5 years or more

•5 offenders were reported to have fantasised about abusing a real child in chat-room conversations

•5 offenders had contacted or attempted to contact a child online of which one went on to sexually abuse the child he had made contact with.

•Sentences ranged from 100 hours community service to indefinite terms for repeat offenders or those who had also committed sexual assaults on a child.

•There were 2,258,980 images in total across all 100 convictions

•Number of images in individual cases ranged from 8 videos to 445,217 images

•48,500 were reported to be at level 4 or 5

•9 of the cases the offenders had made some of the images themselves

•37 of the offenders had used peer to peer file sharing or distributed pictures of child sex abuse online

(Report of an NSPCC analysis of 100 cases reported in local and national news of people convicted or cautioned for possessing, making or distributing indecent images of children and/or child sexual abuse, April 2010

The CEOP Annual Report 2009-10 identified an increasing trend in the number of self-taken images by young women and an increase in self-generated video content. Their analysis suggests young people are unaware of the risks associated with this behaviour. CEOP highlight an overall concern with children and young people’s risk taking behaviour online.

Online paedophile behaviour has become more sophisticated – abusers will adopt multiple on-line personas to groom children and normalise the abusive nature of relationships (Michael Williams). The impact of online abuse upon children as victims of this crime cannot be underestimated especially as there is limited written research available. One of the key concerns is the lack of closure as online images may never be entirely recalled or deleted.

There has been an increase in the number of referrals to CEOP where women have been involved in the sexual abuse of children. The high profile case of Vanessa George as part of a paedophile ring and the subsequent SCR published by Plymouth safeguarding Board on Nursery Z provided useful learning for early year’s settings but also applied to the wider workforce.

Some children and young people may become involved in much more serious activities. Possible risks include involvement in identity theft or participation in hate or cult websites, websites that promote violent extremism or the buying and selling of stolen goods. The ease of access to online gambling, suicide sites, sites for the sale of weapons, hacking sites, and sites providing recipes for drug or bomb making are also of great concern. These concerns are highlighted by the case of Nicky Reilly in May 2008.

Stockport’s Children’s Trust aspires to improve the life chances of all children and young people but aims in partnership to focus on those who need additional support because they are disadvantaged or vulnerable. In partnership we will focus particular attention and resource on:

• Children in Care and Care Leavers

• Deprived Children and Young People

• Children with Special Educational Needs

• Young Carers

• Children and Young people who are disengaged and at risk of becoming marginalised

• Parents and Carers of our priority children and young people

• Children with Disabilities

The Pinch Poke Munch report (2011) identified six challenges to vulnerable young people:

• Low self-confidence. Identity seen to be part of ‘outsiders’;
• Lack of supportive adults in their lives;
• More unsupervised time, fewer structures and boundaries;
• Fluid learning environment and gaps in education and induction;
• Experience abusive relationships or environment including anger;
• Influences of alcohol, drugs and gang culture. Risk takers and at risk.

Keeping children and young people safe is everybody's business and is a key challenge for all agencies. Safeguarding is not just about Child Protection (protecting children from suspected abuse and neglect) it's also about minimising the risk of harm and accidents, having safe recruitment procedures, having a code of conduct for staff and volunteers and having the right policies and procedures in place to deal with issues if they occur.

1. Strategic themes

Our strategy is to support the development of safe and responsible behaviour by everyone who works or lives in Stockport when they are using digital technology.

The aim is to use a mixture of technological approaches and education to raise awareness and understanding and encourage resilience. The strategy acknowledges that digital and technological controls are not sufficient by themselves to keep children and young people safe although they do have an important role especially for younger age groups. Making safe choices in a digital world requires an understanding the equipment and its capabilities, an awareness of the risks and the consequences and understanding of the importance of responsible behaviour.

Reduce availability of harmful/ inappropriate website content

• Encourage and empower users to report harmful/ inappropriate website content to host websites and ask for it to be removed or taken down.
• ISP to remove harmful/ inappropriate content in user-generated content websites e.g. YouTube, Facebook. CEOP report that it receives a high proportion of reports of inappropriate contact about Facebook.

Restrict access

• To ensure those agencies within the Stockport Children’s Trust arrangements and SSCB partner agencies are committed to delivering a managed environment that is as safe and secure as possible and where appropriate in line with national e-safety guidelines. The use of locked down systems will be discouraged as these do not encourage responsible behaviour.
• To encourage the use of software solutions to filter out harmful/ inappropriate content considering the age/ stage and development of the users.
• To provide guidance for the development of Responsible User Policies (RUP) and assistance with the development of local RUP where appropriate.

Increase resilience

• To raise awareness and understanding of responsible use of technology with children and young people, parents and carers and the workforce across Stockport. Users will also be advised of the consequences of inappropriate behaviour.
• To develop and implement a monitoring framework for e-safety incidents, including volume and severity, that links to existing processes
• To promote e-safety in a prominent position on web-sites and include information/ links about national organisations and advice and promote the use of the ‘CEOP Report’ button wherever possible

How will the strategy be implemented?

The E-safety Sub Group will work closely with the Anti-Bullying Steering Group and the Child Sexual Exploitation Forum.

The key elements of the strategy are:

• Provision of policies to support responsible use of technology
• Responsible User Policy
• E-safety Safer Working Practice Guidance
• Responsible User Policies
• Anti-bullying policies that include cyberbullying
• Managing e-safety incidents
• Training and education

(see also Workforce Development Strategy 2011-14)

• Development of a pool of CEOP Ambassador Trainers for Stockport
• Development and delivery of an e-safety training programme including awareness of sexual exploitation
• Consideration of the feasibility to develop peer educators/ mentors for young people

• Publicity
• Resources and links for children and young people, parents and carers and workforce available via the SSCB website
• Mechanism for dissemination of local and national guidelines, local good practice etc. via the SSCB Communication Strategy
• Performance monitoring
• Reporting process for e-safety incidents
• Progress reports provided to strategic groups within SSCB and Children’s Trust partners

KEY DOCUMENTS

Children’s Trust Strategic Plan 2011–14

SSCB Business Plan 2011-12

SSCB Annual Report 2010-11

SSCB Annual Training Report 2010-11

Workforce Development Strategy 2011-14

Munch, Poke, Ping! Vulnerable young people, social media and e-safety, Carrick-Davies, 2011

Safer Use of new Technologies OFSTED Thematic Report 2010

CEOP Strategic Overview 2009-10

Children Online Risks and Safety, NfER, 2010

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