Leeds exploitation action plan as 100 children at risk of grooming

Children as young as 11 were among the 455 young people reported missing last year, according to a report by the Leeds Safeguarding Children Board.

Council bosses are now drawing up a multi-agency strategy to prioritise efforts to protect young people considered vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse.

The board’s annual report reveals around 54 per cent of those reported missing between 2012-13 were aged between 11 and 15, while 103 youngsters were considered at direct risk of abuse.

Jane Held, independent chair of the LSCB, said: “In recent years there has been an increased appreciation of the vulnerability of young people who go missing from home or care and the link between this and the risk of becoming sexually exploited.

“The LSCB has identified these young people as a priority vulnerable group requiring a concerted and co-ordinated multi-agency response.”

The strategy will set out how the agencies involved should work together to identify those at risk and how to remove them from harm.

It also aims to raise awareness of the signs of exploitation, with the understanding that children may often not consider themselves as victims, and develop an assessment tool to help profile perpetrators and create a database to map the issue.

Agencies are also aiming to educate parents who may believe the issue mostly affects those in care, amid warnings that up to 80 per cent of children who are sexually exploited live at home.

Similar work is already under way in South Yorkshire where reviews have been launched into how the police and other authorities deal with the sexual exploitation of children following a series of damaging sex abuse revelations.