We are today launching the new Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

The centre is a world first and will play a decisive part, with police forces, offender managers, children's services and other stakeholders, in protecting children, young people, families and society from paedophiles and sex offenders; in particular from those who use the internet and other new technologies in the sexual exploitation of children.

The Government are committed both to protecting children and to tackling the paedophiles who seek to abuse them. We also want to make the internet safe for young people to use. Today's children are sophisticated users of mobile phones and the internet and protecting them in this environment needs an effective response.

We have shown that much progress can be made by working in partnerships which involve law enforcement, the internet and communications industry, child protection organisations, and the Government. The Home Secretary's task force on child protection on the internet has been instrumental in forging these partnerships and in making the case for and supporting the development of CEOP. CEOP will deliver a truly multi-agency response to the sexual exploitation of children. Nowhere else in the world have the public, private and voluntary sectors come together in such a way to tackle sex offenders and protect children. The centre will be built around three core faculties—intelligence, operations and harm reduction. It will deliver a range of functions designed to: empower children and parents through information and education; protect young people through better use of intelligence; and ensure the effective management of offenders. The centre will work closely with law enforcement and partner organisations in other countries in order to tackle these issues at international level.

The centre has initially recruited around 70 staff and will be based in London. It will have an annual budget of nearly £5 million and will generate additional support from other sectors. The centre is formally part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency but will be operationally autonomous with a separate budget.

In creating CEOP we are sending a clear message to children and parents that UK law enforcement is committed and able to work with them and the industry to protect children in the digital environment. The creation of the centre makes it clear to paedophiles and sex offenders that we are determined to build on recent successes in identifying them and disrupting and preventing their offending.