Police don’t have full understanding of ‘nature or scale’ of grooming gangs, watchdog finds

A review of 27 cases of child sexual exploitation (CSE) was undertaken by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The watchdog found that the most common ethnic group of offenders in its review were White; the next most common ethnic group was Asian or Asian British.

In its report published today (December 8), HMICFRS has said that although the police service has taken steps to improve its response to child sexual exploitation over the years, ‘progress remains slow’, and data collection is ‘unreliable’. The inspectorate did not name the forces it involved, and added that its sample size ‘isn’t fully representative’.

It undertook the review to establish how well the police and law enforcement bodies understand and respond to group-based child sexual exploitation, and found that ‘the police, law enforcement bodies and the Government still didn’t have a full understanding of the nature or scale of these crimes’.

The report adds: “The number of high-profile investigations into non-recent cases, at a cost of many millions of pounds, demonstrates the consequences of failing to respond effectively to the first indications of exploitation and abuse. It leads to generations of children being unprotected and the guilty being free to carry on offending. It also means that, eventually, the police may need to carry out complex and highly expensive inquiries when some evidence (especially forensic evidence) has been lost forever.

The Jay report in 2014 found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, and she detailed how girls as young as 11 were raped, trafficked, abducted, beaten, and intimidated by men predominantly of Pakistani heritage.

When it was published, then Rotherham Council chief executive Martin Kimber said he accepted the report and the recommendations made and apologised to the victims of abuse.

South Yorkshire Police has said it now has a deep understanding of child sexual exploitation and has embedded a child-centred approach. The force’s police and crime commissioner also said it is now among the best-performing forces when it comes to group-based CSE.

Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Poolman, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “Since the publication of the Jay Report, South Yorkshire Police has worked hard, in conjunction with our partners, to embed the learning that report provided.

“We have developed a far deeper understanding of group-based CSE and have used this to improve our response. We take a partnership approach through every aspect of a case which means we can use all of the powers available to us as a collective whether that is safeguarding children, exploring all intelligence opportunities or disrupting criminality and taking offenders off our streets.

“We have also worked hard to embed a child-centred approach that demonstrates compassion, professionalism and an effective response.

“An independent assessment of our work on CSE in Rotherham in 2022 commissioned by the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership found all intelligence was acted upon and dealt with appropriately and it highlighted the excellent partnership working.

“The National Working Group, which is made up of specialists in tackling CSE, noted a number of working practices that it would advocate other forces to come and look at.

“South Yorkshire Police is playing a key role in sharing some of the difficult lessons of Rotherham to improve the national response to CSE. We will continue to play an active role in this and further develop our own knowledge and response with emerging trends.”

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said that as the report draws on evidence from a number of unnamed police forces, it was not possible to draw any conclusions from it about the performance of any particular force.

“However, we can be confident that South Yorkshire Police are among the best-performing forces when it comes to group-based child sexual exploitation because the force has been on a considerable journey since the publication of Professor Alexis Jay’s report in 2014 found it had failed so many young women,” he said.

“It has undergone a great deal of reflection, learning and change and has led the way in understanding this form of exploitation, how it must be tackled and how victims of CSE should be supported. Hard lessons were learned and the way they tackle CSE is now very different.

“Investigations into child sexual exploitation are carried out in a partnership approach. In Rotherham, this is with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council social workers in the Evolve Team, and this has been commended by practitioners across the country as good practice.

“An independent inspection carried out in 2021 by the Chair of the Children’s Safeguarding Board in Rotherham, Jenny Myers, found South Yorkshire Police’s approach and processes to be effective and robust and praised the quality of reports and investigations undertaken by the force.

“At the beginning of this year, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services rated the whole force as ‘Outstanding’ in this area of Protecting Vulnerable People.

”I receive regular reports from the police at my Public Accountability Board and I am assured that what the inspectors are asking for is, by and large, what South Yorkshire police do already and have been doing for some time.

“The public can be assured that vulnerable young people are safeguarded well by police and partners in South Yorkshire.”