Minister urges action on child sexual exploitation, slams local area failures

Major improvements need to be made in securing prosecutions for child sexual exploitation and improving court processes to make it easier for victims of the crime and their families, the Children’s Minister has said.

Launching the Tackling Sexual Exploitation Action Plan, Tim Loughton said this would “reinforce the fact that child sexual exploitation is not just a particularly vicious form of child abuse but is a serious crime that requires serious punishment."

He added: “It is worrying that many incidents go unreported because victims are unwilling to come forward.”

In addition to calling on the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, judges and magistrates to support young witnesses and victims fully, the action plan calls for increased use of special measures such as live links to the court from an outside location and screens so a witness does not see the defendant.

The government said commitments had been obtained from the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the CPS for a range of initiatives, including:

• A new sentencing regime, “including mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent crime”
• MoJ funding in excess of £15 million over the next three years for voluntary sector groups which provide support to victims
• In group or gang-related cases, trial judges “should think about how to minimise the trauma for witnesses by considering whether there is need for repeat cross-examination in the witness box”
• Active consideration by the MoJ as to whether s.28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, which provides for pre-trial video-recorded cross-examination, can be made to work in practice.

The action plan also calls for better interventions in:

• Raising awareness of the issue with young people, parents and professionals and preventing it taking place
• Taking effective inter-agency action against exploitation and helping children who are victims to get out of it
• Helping children and families who have been caught up in sexual exploitation to get their lives back on track – "which may require support and counselling over a long period of time".

The minister claimed that too many local areas had failed to uncover the true extent of child sexual exploitation in their communities.

“This country has to wake up to the fact that children are being sexually abused in far greater numbers than was ever imagined,” he argued. “It could be going on in every type of community and in every part of the country.”

Loughton suggested that in addition to failing to uncover the true extent of the problem, local areas had failed to support victims and their families properly.

He said that the issue must be made a priority and Local Safeguarding Children Boards should act now to establish the severity of the problem in their areas, make sure they are tackling it effectively and put in place “robust preventative strategies”.

The minister said: “Child sexual exploitation is child abuse, it is not good enough that some local areas don't recognise it as an issue. This is an extremely serious crime and must be treated as such, with the perpetrators pursued more vigorously.”

The action plan is intended to bring together work by the government and other bodies in what was described as a “hidden crime”.

These actions include efforts by the Association of Chief Police Officers, health professional bodies and the Sexual Work Reform Board to make sure child sexual exploitation is covered properly in training and guidance for frontline professionals.

Support organisations such as Rape Crisis and local sexual assault referral centres also need to improve their performance, according to the action plan.

Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Programme Board, said all councils took their child protection responsibilities seriously and had a strong record of working with local partners such as the police, schools and health services to protect vulnerable children.

“The LGA will work with councils to make sure the expertise that exists on preventing exploitation and tracking down perpetrators is shared across the country,” he added. “Raising awareness amongst parents and carers will also help to bring more prosecutions and get justice for victims."

The Department for Education said progress against the action plan would be reviewed in Spring 2012.