Councils still failing to deal with child sexual exploitation, Ofsted warns

19 Nov 14
Councils have been slow to ‘face up to their responsibilities’ on child sexual exploitation, Ofsted has warned today in its first examination of the issue.

By Vivienne Russell | 19 November 2014

Councils have been slow to ‘face up to their responsibilities’ on child sexual exploitation, Ofsted has warned today in its first examination of the issue.

A report published today included the views of more than 150 young people, 36 children’s home inspection and inspection evidence and case examination from eight local authorities.

Inspectors also spoke to 200 professionals including councillors, Local Safeguarding Children’s Board members, council and partner agency staff.

The watchdog found that plans to tackle child sexual exploitation were underdeveloped and leadership frequently lacking. Care planning was often inconsistent, data collection ineffective and training – while good – was not reaching enough professionals.

‘It cannot be acceptable that local authorities and their partners are still failing to grasp and deal with [child sexual exploitation] effectively,’ said Debbie Jones, Ofsted’s national director for social care.

‘It is not enough to simply wait for the next scandal to happen. We are calling on all local authorities and their partners to ensure that they have a comprehensive multi-agency strategy and action plan in place to tackle sexual exploitation.’

Ofsted is calling on local authorities to develop and publish a child sexual exploitation action plan to fully reflect the statutory guidance that was issued in 2009.

The government should also review and update this guidance to ensure it reflects most recent research and good practice.

Responding to Ofsted’s conclusions, David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, acknowledged that councils had been too slow to ‘step up to the plate’.

‘Preventing child sexual exploitation is incredibly complex but local authorities are not going to be able to tackle this vile crime in isolation, it needs to become everyone's business,’ he said.

Simmonds added that it was important that councils, communities and parents had confidence in Ofsted’s inspection regime and its child protection role.

‘The LGA has called for an independent review to discover what has gone wrong with the inspectorate. It's also vital that we move towards a process that is able to properly assess the contribution of all agencies in keeping children safe.’

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