Agenda item

To consider and discuss Child Sexual Exploitation in Blackpool.

Ms Amanda Hatton, Deputy Director Early Years and Social Care, Ms Philippa Holmes, Team Manager, Duty Assessment Team and DS James Edmunds, Lancashire Constabulary advised that a multi-agency approach was taken to tackling child sexual exploitation in Blackpool.

Ms Hatton defined child sexual exploitation and highlighted the broad definition of the term. She added that most of the time the child did not see themselves as being abused and that the majority of young people at risk of child sexual exploitation were vulnerable and participated in other risky behaviour. Members noted that there was an increase in the instances of child exploitation at a younger age.

The Committee noted that a Child Sexual Exploitation Sub Group had been established, which monitored an action plan and reported to the Blackpool Safeguarding Children Board.

DS Edmunds advised that the Awaken Team was a multi-agency team designed to identify patterns across the town, assist young people in managing risky situations, prevent exploitation and ultimately prosecute offenders as any legal action necessary would be taken to put a stop to identified activity. The team had grown in size as the problems in Blackpool had been identified. The requirements of the team were constantly reviewed to determine if more resources were needed and capacity had recently been increased.

Members commented that they felt reassured regarding the amount of work being undertaken in Blackpool relating to child sexual exploitation and queried how young people were referred to the Awaken Team, in particular those that attended NHS walk in centres. DS Edmunds advised that the Health Worker in the Awaken Team was a key link to ensuring that young people who presented at health establishments with indicators of child sexual exploitation were referred to the Awaken Team and that good links had been built. Referrals came from a number of sources, with the majority from 999 calls and the Duty Assessment Team. The aim was to create one ‘front door’ to the Awaken Team and to continue awareness raising of the team’s existence.

In response to a question, the Committee advised that training was offered on a continuous basis to ensure frontline staff in a large number of organisations could recognise the specific indicators of child sexual exploitation. Training had been provided to 500 – 1000 key personnel in the last 12 months.

Councillor Jones, Cabinet Member for School Improvement and Children’s Safeguarding advised that a key concern was the link between child sexual exploitation and attendance at schools. Young people that did not attend school were more vulnerable which was a key safeguarding concern. I was noted that that could also be the case if children were home educated.

Members expressed concern that young people with a secure home life may not show signs of child sexual exploitation and therefore there was a risk that action would not be taken. DS Edmunds advised that it was important to continue to raise awareness with parents, but that there were always signs as long as parents were aware of particular signs of risk. In response to a further question, Ms Hatton advised that a robust media and communication campaign had been designed to alert parents to risk and that parents were always involved once a child had been identified as being exploited or at risk. She acknowledged that parent support could be improved which would be a key focus going forward.

The Committee queried the plans for Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness week, scheduled for November. Ms Holmes advised that a number of initiatives had been planned including training sessions, a children’s conference, various police operations, interactive awareness raising with children and a media campaign to raise general awareness. In response to a further question, it was noted that one school had utilised the play ‘Chelsea’s Choice’ to date.

Members raised concerns that previously information sharing had been highlighted as a barrier and a risk to effective working. DS Edmunds advised that information systems were not perfect and that confidentiality must be respected, but that there were no barriers to information sharing across the Awaken Team.

Peer Support was highlighted by the Committee as a potential untapped resource for providing young people with someone to talk to and Councillor Jones acknowledged that many young people found it easier to talk to peers. He added that the Children’s Conference scheduled to be held in the awareness week in November would be a key tool to disseminate information across schools. Ms Holmes advised that young people often contacted the Awaken Team with concerns about friends and that that information was always taken seriously. DS Edmunds added that peer to peer exploitation was also an issue being investigated.

In response to a question, DS Edmunds advised that a piece of work had been commissioned to speak with offenders to investigate why they had offended.

The Committee focused on the action plan of the Child Sexual Exploitation Sub Group of the Blackpool Safeguarding Children Board and noted the progress made. Ms Hatton advised that the action plan had been updated since the agenda had been published.

The Committee agreed:

To receive a report in approximately six months to consider progress made against the Child Sexual Exploitation Action Plan and to focus on education around child sexual exploitation and the work being carried out to identify the reasons why offenders’ offended.