Multimillion-pound online officers ‘target highest harm and most technologically sophisticated’ abusers – safeguarding minister Phillips


Minister claims that, during the 2024-25 year, the Home Office has put almost £30m into initiatives to tackle abuse, including specialised officers deployed to target the most technically advanced offenders

Tens of millions of pounds of investment made by the Home Office in recent months has supported the work of specialist covert digital officers tackling child sexual abuse – including material generated by artificial intelligence.

As part of its efforts to combat abuse, during the current financial year the department has put a total of £17m into efforts “to build the workforce capacity and technical capability of the National Crime Agency”, according to Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls.

The minister added that a further £11m has been invested “to resource undercover online officers”.

The money put in by the department in recent months will play a particularly important role in hunting the most serious cases – and those that using power new tech.

“This funding targets the highest harm and most technologically sophisticated child sexual abuse offenders,” Phillips said.


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The minister was responding to a written parliamentary question from Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, who asked the Home Office “what resources [the] department has allocated to law enforcement agencies to help tackle the level of child sexual exploitation cases due to AI”.

In response, Phillips said: “UK law is clear that AI generated child sexual abuse images are illegal material. We invest in capabilities across law enforcement to identify and disrupt child sexual abuse, which includes offences involving AI generated child sexual abuse material.”

Government’s response to child sexual abuse – and Phillips’ role in it – has been in the headlines recently following online tirades by Twitter owner Elon Musk, and calls from other high-profile figures for a national public inquiry into grooming gangs.

Colleagues and others have voiced strong support for Phillips and, in response to Musk’s criticism in particular, survivors of the Telford grooming scandal in the late 2000s wrote in an open letter that “no one in public life… has done more to support victims and survivors and to advocate for their interests”.

Prior to becoming an MP, the safeguarding minister worked  for charity Women’s Aid in the West Midlands helping to manage refuges and other services for domestic abuse victims.

Sam Trendall

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