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<p>People who go missing include some of the most vulnerable people in our society
and the Government will do all it can to ensure those people are protected from harm.</p><p>The
2011 Missing Children and Adults Strategy provided a framework for local and national
action to protect children and vulnerable adults who go missing. The Government has
made significant progress in meeting the objectives of the strategy including by issuing
new statutory guidance on missing children, placing new requirements on local authorities
on the reporting of missing incidents, working with the College of Policing to develop
new risk-based professional practice for police, and funding support for missing people
and their families through charities like Missing People.</p><p>While plans to update
the 2011 strategy are under consideration, we can and will go further to protect and
support people who go missing. The Department for Education is working with the police,
local authorities and the voluntary sector to consider how its statutory guidance
is supporting local authorities and their partners to prevent children from going
missing from home or care, and the Home Office is working with the national policing
lead for Missing Persons and the NCA’s UK Missing Persons Unit to deliver a National
Register for Missing Persons (NRMP) which will provide new functionality around the
reporting of missing and associated found incidents across police force boundaries.</p><p>Protecting
and supporting vulnerable missing people is also a key element of our action to tackle
exploitation and abuse, including sexual abuse and county lines exploitation, given
the clear links between people who go missing and these broader harms. This includes
funding Missing People’s SafeCall service, a specialist 24/7 helpline which provides
advice and support to children, young people and parents/carers concerned about county
lines exploitation.</p>
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