OUR counsellors here at the Yorkshire Childline base support children every day who have experienced abuse of all kinds, but in recent years we have seen an increase in the number of contacts based around abuse that originated online.

It’s a problem that’s been recorded by police forces across the UK too – in the last four years, police reports of child sexual abuse offences with an online element rose by 78 per cent nationally.

Figures recorded by police in Yorkshire and Humberside rose by roughly the same amount in that period, but there’s still a fear that the number of children and young people who have experienced this kind of abuse could be much higher, and have not yet been reported to police.

It goes without saying that children should be able to explore the online world safely, and right now the Government is scrutinising an online safety bill which could ensure social media is better regulated in the UK and offers more protection to young people online.

Sadly, however, we believe the proposed bill falls significantly short of the protections it is meant to deliver to ensure our children can be safe online. As it stands, the Online Safety Bill simply will not offer the protection children and young people deserve from the threats that are evolving online.

Research has shown us that groomers target and contact children using social networks first, starting a relationship there before moving across to encrypted sites or messaging services to commit their awful crimes.

Unless tech firms can factor in this risk when designing their sites and share information about offenders or potential threats to children’s safety, they are putting children in harm’s way.

As it stands, the Bill just doesn’t cover that, nor does it treat facilitation of child abuse with the same severity as the illegal material it causes. It doesn’t fix the current gaps in child safety duty, ensure children can’t access apps that are unsuitable for them, and it doesn’t hold senior managers accountable for their companies’ failure to tackle children’s safety.

We’ve highlighted these problems to the Government, and we are continuing to advise them on how the Bill can be improved to ensure the safety of children and young people is at the heart of the new legislation.

As well as that, we’re also relaunching our Wild West Web campaign to push for social media regulation and step up to this once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Wild West Web is a campaign we first started in 2018 highlighting the need for more robust legislation to address the dangers of the online world. We want senior managers at tech companies to be held to account, and to make sure the voices of children and young people are heard, because as it stands, children at heightened risk of sexual abuse will receive less statutory advocacy than a customer of a post office or passenger on a bus.

We need your help to ensure the Government makes the best decision at the right time to give children and young people the protection they deserve online.

We’re calling on anyone who wants the Government to ensure the online world is as safe as possible for children to write to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and call on her to make the Online Safety Bill as robust and protective as it can be.

Sometimes, we have a genuine opportunity to make a real difference to the world, and when one of those chances come along, shouldn’t we take it?