National guidance indicates that there is a need for work to be undertaken within our local communities to raise awareness of the issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE). We all have a duty to respond to child sexual exploitation and when communities work together, we can detect and disrupt this activity. We can prosecute offenders, and by raising awareness and removing taboo, we can protect children and young people from this crime.

National guidance states:

“Sexual exploitation is not limited to particular geographical areas and all Local Safeguarding Children Boards should assume that it is an issue in their area.”

Local Safeguarding Children Boards should “Increase understanding of child sexual exploitation in the professional and wider community for example by contributing to public campaigns in the local area…”

There is also a call for “Enhanced measures to disrupt and prevent CSE” and the action we are required to undertake is to Raise awareness of CSE within areas or environments (e.g. night time economy, private security industry, Hotels and Bed and Breakfast’s) associated with CSE.

The NWG Network has produced the Say Something if you See Something (SSSS) campaign. The campaign aims to engage and empower partners working in local and national businesses to recognise and report child sexual exploitation and the campaign was launched nationally at Westminster in 2013.

This awareness work has already resulted in incidents being reported to the police and young people being rescued from potentially dangerous situations, where businesses and staff have been concerned about possible child sexual exploitation and/or trafficking activity at their premises.

It is important that we continue this momentum to further cascade this message and ultimately create a zero tolerance attitude within our society, a society where young people are safe to enjoy the liberties that they are entitled to.

The NWG provide all types of businesses with posters, leaflets, risk assessments, refusal logs, information sharing reports and training materials, to support business communities to safeguard children.

On 12th November 2015, I had the privilege of attending Sheffield Hallam University to present graduates with well deserved certificates to acknowledge their valued contribution to our national Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) awareness campaign. The graduates recently completed their degrees in a combination of International Tourism, Hospitality & Events Management (ITHE) courses.

This was a fantastic opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to the graduates for their contribution in assisting with the ‘Say Something if you See Something’ toolkit, including attending training sessions, evaluating the training and also translations of the resources in order to make them more widely accessible to those working in the hospitality industry This has created greater awareness within our communities of the issue and is contributing to creating a zero tolerance attitude to Child Sexual Exploitation.

Their willingness to share both their time and expertise is greatly appreciated and received. We wish the graduates well in their professional endeavours and hope the legacy continues in order to make our community a safer place for children.

The strong partnership working between Sheffield Hallam University and local statutory and non statutory organisations has resulted in students being aware of child sexual exploitation related issues and they have collaboratively worked together to continue raising awareness as the next generation of employees in the world of hospitality, tourism and events. The initiative included a number of international students who have / will be returning to their home countries and taking this knowledge, training and experience with them into the ITHE sector locally, nationally and internationally. This has been a wonderful and creative way of enhancing local partnerships and we would encourage all Local Safeguarding Children Boards to consider opportunities of collaborative work with their local universities and colleges to engage students, graduates and lecturers alike in responding to the very important community issue of child sexual exploitation.