Internet Watch Foundation

Peter Robbins QPM, Internet Watch Foundation Chief Executive, has been awarded an OBE for services to children and families in the Queen's New Years Honours list.

Peter was appointed Chief Executive of the IWF in April 2002 and has led the organisation’s expansion from a membership base of just fifteen companies to over eighty, a tripling of its income and the conversion from not-for-profit to charitable status. He has overseen major governance and role and remit reviews and a recent modernisation of the IWF’s Board, stakeholder and consultation structures. He continues to foster the extensive partnerships on which the success of the IWF relies and is presently engaged in developing the IWF’s new three-year strategic plan.

Peter Robbins QPM, IWF CEO, said: “It is a very real honour and privilege to receive such an award but the recognition is shared with many many others who have supported the work of all the staff at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

 

“There is no doubt that the success of the IWF is founded on the strength of bringing public bodies together with the private sector to form an incredibly dynamic partnership to tackle the distribution of child sexual abuse content online.

 

“The UK has a unique approach to tackling this content, with such extraordinary support from the online sector making a very real difference in disrupting the proliferation of child sexual abuse content on the internet. Given the international nature of the challenge ahead we still have much to do in promoting the UK self-regulatory partnership approach abroad in an endeavour to put a stop to the sexual abuse of children and the perpetuation of that abuse by the circulation of illegal images around the world.”

 

Having joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1971, Peter rose to the rank of Borough Commander for Hackney. During his career he worked in the Obscene Publications Branch at Scotland Yard and liaised regularly with Child Protection Units. He specialised in inner city policing and public disorder events and acted as an independent police advisor to the Independent Electoral Commission in South Africa in 1994. He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in 2001 for distinguished police service.

 

He is a member of the Internet Crime Forum and the Home Secretary’s Task Force on the Protection of Children on the Internet. He chaired a national Search Engine Working Group on behalf of the Government which culminated in the publication of a good practice guide for search providers and consumers. He regularly presents at events relating to illegal online content and frequently speaks with the media at home and abroad.