Andy Pritchard Panel Chair John Fox Independent Author A Multi-Agency Review of the services provided to victims of child sexual exploitation in Kent Andy Pritchard Panel Chair John Fox Independent Author  

Aims of the presentation To explore the findings from the Review To gain understanding of the learning from the Review To explain the recommendations To ask questions of the Lead Reviewer

Review Methodology Whilst not commissioned as a Serious Case Review it followed the same format and rigour including: Independent Reviewer and Author Review Panel oversight Individual Agency Reviews The voice of the young people

Case Details - Summary During 2013, safeguarding agencies in Kent became increasingly concerned about the proliferation of child sexual exploitation, particularly involving ethnic communities in East Kent. A dedicated and multi-agency team known as Operation Lakeland was deployed to address these issues in a structured and focused way. Initially, the Lakeland team considered a list of one hundred vulnerable boys and girls who were potential victims of CSE.

Case Details - Summary Two cases were taken to Crown Court however, all the defendants were eventually acquitted. The KSCB felt that lessons could be learned from the operation itself, and also the multi-agency arrangements in the period preceding the operation when the arrangements for safeguarding CSE victims were more fragmented.

6 Key Episodes or Themes 1. Whether risk factors were identified, shared, and acted upon. 2. The response to risk factors by Children's Services. 3. Identifying and working with resistance. 4. Joint working in a major crime environment . 5. Whether safeguarding of children was held as a priority throughout decision-making. 6. Raising awareness of CSE by KSCB.

Key Findings of Review The Multi-Agency Review revealed that as well as some excellent practice there were gaps in record keeping, poor decision-making, a lack of professional curiosity and missed opportunities for information sharing between agencies.

Key Findings of Review Major improvements since 2013 KSCB and its constituent agencies have engaged in a comprehensive strategy to improve the handling of CSE cases in Kent. There is now good evidence of a pro-active approach to the risk of CSE, and recent and ongoing initiatives include training, awareness building, a dedicated Multi-Agency Sexual Exploitation Group and a permanent multi-agency operational CSE Team.

Key Findings of Review Specially trained Police Officers and Social Workers   In any future major operation, staff need to receive better training in major incident room procedures and they need to be offered better welfare support. More Social Workers need to be trained to the highest level for ABE Interviewing (Tier 3) so that they are able to conduct true 'joint interviews' with their Police colleagues.

Key Findings of Review ABE Guidelines not fit for purpose The guidelines relating to interviewing child victims of crime were originally drawn up to serve a particular purpose in respect of intra-familial child abuse involving very young children, they are often not fit for purpose for many multi-victim cases, such as CSE involving reluctant, teenage victims.

Key Findings of Review Awareness of CSE and the risk factors There was inadequate awareness of CSE amongst professionals across all agencies. This led to a failure to identify and act upon clear risk indicators which were exhibited by children.

Key Findings of Review Inadequate legal safeguarding A child was suffering significant harm; her parents were unwilling or unable to protect her from such harm, and legal action should have been taken at an earlier stage by the Local Authority. The threshold of significant harm which is applied in CSE cases to trigger legal intervention may be too high.

Key Findings of Review Better interpreting services   There was a lack of qualified interpreters available in Kent during the relevant time, and there has been no evidence provided that the situation is any better now.

Recommendations Recommendation 1 The Kent and Medway CSE toolkit should be reviewed by the KSCB, and its risk indicators should be tested using focus groups, including young people and busy frontline professionals, to ensure that it is discriminatory by actually drawing attention to genuine key CSE risk factors rather than everyday behaviour exhibited by many modern young people

Recommendations Recommendation 2 For the toolkit to be successful, it is essential that all front line safeguarding services adopt its use and the KSCB should conduct an audit of all such agencies including the police, to establish its utility.

Recommendations Recommendation 3 In possible cases of CSE, individual professionals may have different standards and mind-sets about what constitutes consensual sex and what is exploitation. The notion of professional challenge must be reinforced through KSCB safeguarding training.

Recommendations Recommendation 4 KSCB should seek reassurance from the Local Authority that the law is being correctly applied to protect victims of child abuse and particularly that rigour is being applied to the threshold which provides appropriate legal interventions in respect of CSE cases.

Recommendations Recommendation 5 KSCB should carry out an audit of the interpreting services available to key agencies such as Social Care, the Police and Health Services when they are dealing with safeguarding concerns involving children and families. Once KSCB has established the current position, the KSCB Chair should instigate discussions at a national level with the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs to establish and share good practice as to the most effective use of those scarce resources.

Recommendations Recommendation 6 Safeguarding professionals working in the arena of child sexual exploitation are likely to encounter resistance not only from parents and carers, particularly if they are from diverse cultures, but also from the young people themselves. KSCB training should be reinforced to better impart information on this facet of safeguarding so that managers can ensure that their staff are equipped with the ability to recognise and counter such resistance in potential CSE cases.

Recommendations Recommendation 7 In the event of any future CSE operation such as Lakeland, police PPU staff and social workers who will be seconded to the investigation team should, during the lead in period, take part in bespoke familiarisation training on the workings of the major incident room and major crime investigation.

Recommendations Recommendation 8 In order to better familiarise senior managers with the peculiarities of working in a major crime environment the KSCB should explore opportunities to provide regular strategic multi-agency exercises around the theme of CSE, perhaps using the HYDRA system.

Recommendations Recommendation 9 The current ABE Guidelines may not be fit for purpose in respect of some CSE cases. The KSCB Chair should write to the National Association of Independent LSCB Chairs to highlight the problems revealed by this Review and instigate a discussion at a national level and with the appropriate Government departments.

Recommendations Recommendation 10 The Independent Chair of KSCB should write to the Chief Crown Prosecutor to seek greater dialogue with the CPS concerning matters of safeguarding children and their involvement in case reviews.

Recommendations Recommendation 11 The KSCB should audit the process for ABE interviews in Kent and in particular seek reassurance from KCC Children's Services that there is a significant pool of social workers fully trained to ABE Level 3 who can become equal partners in any future joint major crime investigation.

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