'Councils still failing to properly tackle CSE' - children's commissioner

The report, If It’s Not Better, It’s Not the End, is part of the OCC’s inquiry into sexual exploitation and found in many areas victims and potential victims are still not being identified by child protection agencies. It is a follow-up to an initial report published by the OCC in late 2013 that revealed CSE was a bigger problem than previously thought.

The latest report says that in one cluster of nine councils, the rates of known victims of CSE varied between one and 65 per 10,000 children, despite the areas having similar deprivation levels and demographics.

While 2,092 victims of CSE were identified in 2013 in England, just 48 per cent of local children's safeguarding boards (LSCBs) said agencies in their area had identified victims.

The OCC also found that while at a senior level there is a commitment to tackling CSE, this message was not filtering through to frontline staff. This is most apparent through the failure of child protection professionals to share information – while 31 out of 38 police forces have strong information sharing protocols in place with social care half reported experiencing barriers to multi-agency information sharing.

As well as improved information sharing, the OCC echoes the education select committee's recommendation for schools to provide relationship and sex education is part of a "robust” personal, social, health and economic education programme.

Deputy children’s commissioner for England and chair of the inquiry Sue Berelowitz, said: “It is clear that at the frontline much work is still needed. There is a gap between strategy and what happens on the ground.

“Once again we are calling for age-appropriate relationships and sex education to be made a statutory component of the curriculum. Young people need to understand what are and what are not healthy relationships.”