Public Awareness Campaign
IICSA · The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · Issued 20 October 2022 · Addressed to: UK Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, K.2
The Inquiry recommends that the UK government and the Welsh Government commission regular programmes of activity to increase public awareness about child sexual abuse and the action to take if child sexual abuse is happening or suspected in England and in Wales. The programmes should: challenge myths and stereotypes about child sexual abuse; make maximum use of different approaches including, but not limited to, public information campaigns, the use of positive role models and creative media, such as television drama; and be supported by continuous evaluation to measure their impact.
IICSA, The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · 20 Oct 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- No published regular programme of public awareness activity about child sexual abuse beyond existing campaigns has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
We accept the importance of bringing child sexual abuse out of the shadows and creating more national awareness of the scale and nature of the issues and how to report concerns and cases of child sexual abuse. We have funded and delivered several public awareness campaigns and will continue to explore the most effective ways of raising awareness of child sexual abuse.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 8 Apr 2025 Enhanced communications campaign underway; continued funding for 'Look Closer' and Fearless programs; support for Lucy Faithfull Foundation to prevent offending and support survivors. Source →
- 21 Jan 2025 · Home Affairs Select Committee Professor Alexis Jay told Home Affairs Committee that £187m was spent on IICSA and "to date none of its final recommendations had been implemented." Called for "full implementation" saying "get it done." View source → No Meaningful Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.