1. This part of the Westminster investigation seeks to ensure that, today and in the future, any allegations of child sexual abuse or exploitation involving people of public prominence associated with Westminster are dealt with appropriately and in accordance with best practice.

2. We examined the adequacy of existing safeguarding and child protection policies in place within political parties, in government departments and agencies, and in the intelligence and security agencies. We received evidence about how political parties have dealt with recent safeguarding and child protection matters and evidence from the intelligence and security agencies about how historic allegations would be dealt with, were they to happen today and current policies be applied.

3. Most Westminster organisations have safeguarding and child protection policies in place. However, there remain significant gaps, including political parties that have no such policies, and considerable variation in approach among the policies currently in place.