More robust online safety laws are vital to protect young people

The NSPCC has been a vocal supporter of more robust online safety laws, and data released in the last few days shows just how important they are.

- By Darren Worth Childline senior supervisor, North of England

In the North East and Cumbria, police forces recorded 370 sexual communication with a child in the last year. That's an increase of 36% since the offence was introduced in 2017-18, with almost 2,900 recorded in that period in total.

Nationally, online grooming crimes have hit record levels too, with data from 43 police forces across the UK showing there were 7,263 offences recorded last year.

Most of the children targeted (80%) were girls and the youngest victim of online grooming was a four-year-old boy.