§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what facilities his Department offers to local government to spread the best practice in suspected cases of sexual abuse of children.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyI have been asked to reply.
The Department routinely issues guidance to local authorities, and has recently hosted a national conference for chairmen of area child protection committees, the proceedings of which will be disseminated. In addition, several projects in the Department's central training initiative are concerned with child sexual abuse and as part of the training support programme (child care) a special development group has produced guidelines for local authority training officers to assist them with planning their staff training in this area. The Department's social services inspectorate also produce reports which highlight good practice.