Helen Southworth (Lab, Warrington, South) introduced the Runaway and Missing Children Bill under a ten-minute rule motion. 

The Bill, introduced by Southworth in previous sessions, is designed to safeguard runaway and missing children from predatory adults for sexual or drug-related exploitation.  

The Bill would require data to be collected nationally. Southworth said, “A small number of police forces are leading initiatives to identify and protect runaway and missing children and the Association of Chief Police Officers issued guidance on the management and reporting of missing persons in 2005, but a number of police forces are still using paper-based systems. Better information is still available nationally on missing cars than on missing children. Police have a key performance indicator set by the Government on vehicle crime, so they allocate resources and collect information. Children are more important than cars, but the Department for Children, Schools and Families—the lead Department—collects no data on runaway and missing children.”

House of Commons

First reading: January 9 2008 [HC Bill 51]

Second reading: June 20 2008