Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton, is urging services in his constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham to take urgent action to stop the sexual exploitation of children and young people.
The Department for Education recently published a new action plan that calls on local areas to take immediate action to stop the sexual exploitation of children and young people.
Tim warned of failure by local agencies to recognise and deal with this problem in many areas of the country, stating it must be a priority and that Local Safeguarding Children Boards must now act to establish the severity of the problem in their areas and put in place robust preventative strategies.
The Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Action Plan brings together for the first time actions by the Government and partners to protect children from this largely hidden crime. These include:
Work with the Association of Chief Police Officers, health professional bodies, and the Social Work Reform Board to make sure child sexual exploitation is properly covered in training and guidance for frontline professionals.
LSCBs to prioritise child sexual exploitation and undertake robust risk assessments and map the extent and nature of the problem locally.
Support organisations like Rape Crisis, and local sexual assault referral centres, to improve services for young victims. It will also look at raising awareness by improving sex and relationships education in schools and helping parents know what tell-tale signs to look out for.
The police, the Crown Prosecution Service, judges and magistrates to fully support young witnesses and victims, and increase the use of ‘special measures' in court to ease the stress and anxiety of criminal proceedings on young people. For example, live links to the court from an outside location and screens so the witness does not see the defendant.
Sexual exploitation of children under 18 can involve gangs or individuals giving gifts like money, food, drugs or alcohol in exchange for the victim performing sexual activities. Or it can happen through grooming using technology, for example being persuaded to post sexual images on the internet or phone. The young people are often lured into this and trapped through very heavy intimidation and controlling tactics.
Tim Loughton said:
The whole nation has to wake up to the fact that children are being sexually abused in far greater numbers than was ever imagined. It could be going on in every type of community and in every part of the country. As Children’s Minister and MP for East Worthing and Shoreham I want to ensure that services in my local area use the new action plan we have published and puts provisions in place to eliminate this disgraceful abuse.
Too many local areas have failed to uncover the true extent of child sexual exploitation and failed to provide adequate support for their victims and families. The action plan is a big step forward and looks at sexual exploitation from the perspective of the young person, analysing what can go wrong and what should happen at every stage.
The plan outlines a compelling case for local areas to act quickly and for parents, and frontline professionals who come into contact with potential victims and perpetrators, to intervene at the earliest possible opportunity to stop the crime escalating.
I am here to offer and provide support to services in my area and I am happy to meet and discuss their course of action if they believe it will help