Police Need More Money to Fight Child Abuse

BBC News
July 15, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-lords-28314876

[with video]

Retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss has used her first appearance in the House of Lords since stepping down as head of a probe into child sex abuse to call for extra funds to be given to the police to help the tackle child abuse.

Lady Butler-Sloss who sits as a crossbench peer told peers that the police's ability to tackle both historical and ongoing child abuse is being undermined by cuts to their funding.

"There needs to be sufficient resources for the police, who are at the moment being cut down" she told peers

The former High Court judge stepped down as the head of an independent inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse on 14 July saying she was "not the right person" for the job.

Her resignation came after days of pressure over her links to the political establishment in the 1980s, when her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general.

Several other peers called for the government to do more to prevent and tackle child abuse during the oral questions session on 15 July 2014.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Storey asked the government what it was doing to protect the estimated 80,000 children not in school in the UK

"How can we ensure the safety of those children if we don't know where they're being taught?" He asked.

While Crossbench peer Baroness Howarth of Breckland called on the government to reinstate education programmes designed to prevent the abuse of children in their own homes.

At the beginning of the session shadow leader of the house Baroness Royall of Blaisdon led tributes to the new Leader of The House Baroness Stowell of Beeston, and her predecessor Lord Hill of Oareford who is set to become the UK's next European Commissioner.

Baroness Royall hit out at Prime Minister David Cameron for apparently not giving the new leader of the House of Lords a place in Cabinet.