To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to enable children to use the internet in a safe manner. (306323)

[holding answer 15 December 2009]: The Government launched the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) in September 2008, to bring together Government, industry, charities, law enforcement and others to collectively work to help children stay safe online.

We have now launched the UKCCIS strategy, “Click Clever Click Safe”, which sets out what is being done to keep children safe online. This is the first strategy of this kind produced anywhere in the world, and was launched alongside our online version of the Green Cross Code: “Zip it, Block it, Flag it”. We want to see the digital code become as familiar as “Stop, Look, Listen.” We believe that this work, across a number of sectors, will help children to stay safe online.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to educate children on best practices on internet usage. (306324)

[holding answer 15 December 2009]: The Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools, and Families jointly chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS). One of the recommendations of the Byron Review was that a “one stop shop” for internet safety information for children should be created. UKCCIS has agreed that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) should act as this one stop shop, building on the success of its “Think U Know” website.

The “Think U Know” website provides practical safety information for children in relevant and easy-to-understand ways, with different sections for different age groups. This information will help children to understand the internet, the risks that they might face, and how to protect themselves. The site also provides a direct link to CEOP for children who feel threatened online to report the threat through CEOP’s “Report Abuse” button.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to educate parents on best practices on the internet in order to protect their children. (306325)

[holding answer 15 December 2009]: The Government created the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in 2006 to help protect children online. As part of their remit, CEOP provide safety information to parents, carers and teachers.

This is set out in the “Think U Know” website, which provides practical safety information for adults to allow them to keep children safe online. This information will help adults to keep themselves safe, and to help children to understand the internet, the risks that they might face, and how to protect themselves. The site also provides a direct link to CEOP for children who feel threatened online to report the threat through CEOP’s “Report Abuse” button.

When we created CEOP, we recognised the need to develop a law enforcement capability to fight the sexual abuse of children in the online environment, and to provide a national body to act as the national centre for this crime.

Since its inception, CEOP has been a remarkable success. It has rescued over 300 children, and has led to the arrest of a significant number of people seeking to harm children. It has also developed the leading UK child internet safety website, “Think U Know”, which provides practical safety information for adults to allow them to keep children safe online. This information will help adults to keep themselves safe, and to help children to understand the internet, the risks that they might face, and how to protect themselves.

With this record of success, I believe that the time is right to give CEOP a legal identity of its own. I am therefore announcing today that we will strengthen CEOP’s role in protecting children by granting it NDPB status. This will allow CEOP to respond quickly and effectively to emerging online threats and to take on additional work relating to the protection of children at a national level.