Today ( 30.10.14) sees the publication of another inquiry into sexual exploitation. This time looking at the links to missing incidents in particular in Manchester. This inquiry was chaired by Ann Coffey MP for Stockport.

As we know many cases of missing or absent incidents do not always trigger a risk assessment which would allow practioners to check against indicators of Sexual Exploitation and this is common in many towns and cities across the UK.I often fear that the very words ‘sexual exploitation’ hide the fact that we are talking about serious sexual assaults and rape, along with manipulation and control to allow offenders to keep abusing and raping by exerting that control.

If we had the same in depth inquiry into the extend and prevalence of CSE in all cities and major towns, we would see similar figures replicated. We recently heard so much about Rotherham and the 1400 children abused over the 16years, translating to yearly figure of approximately 90 children per year, and from our work across the UK, I strongly suspect that this figure is an average as a % of the population of young people for many town and cities.

Time now needs to be spent, not on looking back at ‘what went wrong’, but into making sure that the implementation of learning on the ground amongst practitioners is robust and ensure that there is not a disconnect between Local Authority strategies and direct frontline operational implementation.

Recent inquiries, research and reports have given authorities and other relevant agencies more than 400 recommendations to implement, we need to ensure those are taken on board and adopted across the UK now. As part of our work we assisted Local Authorities by consolidating many of those recommendations into one document for practioners to cross check against when developing strategies and operational services. We have also developed an e-learning package that allows authorities to provide training to frontline practitioners from all disciplines including police, health, children’s services, youth offending, education etc.

Sheila Taylor, MBE
CEO
NWG Network