Diana Johnson MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Office Minister, commenting on reports that hundreds of convicted sex offenders have gone missing from across the UK, said:

“The public will find these reports very worrying. We need an urgent review of the way those on the sex offenders register are monitored. This is all the more pressing in light of changes David Cameron and Theresa May made to the child protection system in 2011 which has weakened the vetting and barring regime, making it harder to be sure sex offenders are not working with children. Since those changes, 10,000 fewer sex offenders have been added to the barred list, which would automatically stop them working with children and vulnerable adults.

“The Government needs to up its game on child protection and look again at the monitoring of sex offenders. It also needs to explain how sex offenders can be effectively monitored when they plan to reduce police numbers to the lowest level since records began. But it should start by barring sex offenders from working with children immediately.”

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