Speeches by Burton-Sampson.

“Sam, StopNCII told us that of the victims they work with who report to the police, four times as many report a negative experience, rather than a positive one. Why do you think that is the case?”

“Another quite concerning thing that we have heard during this inquiry is that some victims are asked by the police to leave the content online to aid investigation and prosecution. That is obviously not great. What is being done to educate police officers on why it is the worst possible outcome for a victim?”

“My first question will be to you, Assistant Chief Constable—do you mind if I call you Sam?”

“And what is being done to improve training and guidance?”

“Sam, I have another question for you. We are aware of cases in which people who have been convicted of intimate image abuse have had their devices returned to them by the police with the NCII content still on them. Do you know why that is happening? Do we need new powers to stop that from happening—to ensure that the c…”

“Thank you all for coming. This question is for you, Minister Davies-Jones. We are aware of cases where people who have been convicted of intimate image abuse have had their devices returned to them with those images still on the device. Why is that happening, and what steps are you going to take to prevent it?”

“Do you agree that, at the very least, the law should dictate that those images should be removed from the device before it is returned in every situation?”

“Alex, this is another question for you. We talked briefly about compensation. Just to expand a little on what Catherine mentioned, one of the survivors that we heard from told us that the courts had awarded her and 14 victims of NCII abuse £100 each from their abuser. I know you cannot comment on individual cases, but …”

“Thank you very much for that response. It is good to get some clarity. You both know this from your personal experiences, but we met some victims recently, and the mental impact of the abuse on them is almost like non-physical rape. I know that that is a harsh way to put it. I think we need to keep that in mind: it mig…”

“When we look at the diagnostic figures, we see how long it is taking women to get diagnosed and how many times they have to visit a GP before somebody eventually says, “Right, okay, we’ve got to now start doing something about this.” Can we look at a way to perhaps start incentivising medical practitioners to take up t…”

“Very quickly, on taboo, I was reading that many women would not tell their employer the real reason why they are not able to come in to work when they are suffering from a particularly challenging period. As an employer—I still have a business that somebody else is running for me now, but I am an employer here in Parli…”

“Dr Mann, do you have any thoughts?”

“This might be a question for both of you. What needs to be done to improve current practitioners’ access to professional development on women’s reproductive health conditions? Is there more that can be done?”

“Thank you both for coming in today. This question is to you initially, Dr Mann. I know from a family member with an experience similar to Sarah’s that it can take a very long time to get to a diagnosis of endometriosis. We have heard similar concerns about the test procedures and then the actual treatment, with people …”

“T9. I agree with the Minister that it is vital for everyone who is eligible for support to claim for it, but what steps is she taking to ensure that claiming for pension credit is as simple as possible?”

“I want come back on something Rachel brought up around the review process and how long it takes. This is really important because the longer that image stays online, the longer that person is suffering harm and potentially further harm. Courtney, your answer was, “We endeavour within a couple of hours,” and your answer…”

“Sophie, how many cases of deepfakes do you encounter coming through the Revenge Porn Helpline? Maybe you can give us an idea over a period of time as well so we can see the trends.”

“What action would you like to see major platforms such as Google and Microsoft take to counter the threat posed by NCII, including deepfakes?”

“Sophie, you mentioned the report to the police and the way that was dealt with. Do you think more needs to be done with police around how to handle these sorts of situations and, if so, what would you suggest is done?”

“Jumping back to the sextortion figures, you mentioned 91% were male. Is there any disproportionality as to whether it is gay or straight males who are impacted, or do you have no data on that?”