Sarah Champion MP Calls on Government to Improve Police Responses to Child Exploitation
Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, has called on the Government to ensure that police forces are given the tools they need to respond to Child Exploitation in whatever form it takes.
Sarah urged the Government to deliver joined up, properly funded responses across statutory agencies. Sarah also called for robust data on perpetrators and raised concerns that existing police ICT systems are not fit for purpose and needed urgent improvement.
Sarah gave key recommendations that would improve responses to grooming gangs as a core participant in the section of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) about child sexual exploitation by organised networks. The inquiry will publish this report on 1st February.
Speaking during Home Office Questions, Sarah said:
“Child sexual, criminal and online exploitation are all increasing in this country, all of which can be addressed by joined up working by Government departments, robust data collection on perpetrators and a police IT system that is fit for the 21st Century. All of this takes money, vision, and leadership. Can the Home Secretary provide that?”
Responding for the Government, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel said:
“There is a wide range of work that is taking place across government on this, including local authorities, social services and public health. That work is absolutely crucial, along with, and I know that she knows this and has seen the incredible investigatory capability of our crime agencies, National Crime Agency as well as policing, to go after the perpetrators and that work is just getting stronger and stronger.”
Commenting, Sarah said:
“I have for many years raised the urgent need to ensure that police forces and statutory agencies are able to intervene early to protect children from the horrors of Child Sexual Exploitation. It is incredibly frustrating, therefore, that I continue to hear from those agencies that the tools at their disposal are simply not fit for purpose.’
‘It must be the Government’s abiding priority to protect children, to prevent abuse and to bring offenders to justice. But so long as statutory agencies continue to operate in the dark, unable to efficiently share accurate, comprehensive information, we cannot hope to do so. It was therefore really disappointing that the Home Secretary could not commit to providing those agencies with the resources, tools and funding that they need.’
‘I look forward to the long-awaited report from Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse next month, which will I hope set out clear recommendations to improve our response to CSE. The Government must implement these recommendations promptly and in full. I will be doing everything that I can to make sure that they do so.”