Rotherham abuse scandal: one week on

What is Rotherham Council doing?

Rotherham Council’s cabinet met today to discuss professor Alexis Jay’s findings and action being taken in response. The council has accepted all the findings and has set out how it plans to achieve the 15 recommendations.

The council already has ongoing work in progress to address four of the recommendations, and has set target dates of 30 September for a further four recommendations, and 30 November for the remaining seven.

By 30 September, the council, alongside South Yorkshire Police, will review the social care funding available to the child sexual exploitation (CSE) team – which currently stands at £2.35m for 2014/15 – to make sure it is sufficient.

The council has also pledged to “make every effort“ to reach out to victims of CSE who are not yet in touch with services, and restore open access and outreach work with children affected by CSE to the level previously provided by the Risky Business youth project, again by 30 November.

Also by 30 November, a community engagement plan is to be created. There should be more direct and more frequent engagement by the council and its safeguarding board with women and men from the minority ethnic communities on the issue of CSE and other forms of abuse.

By that time, the council has said it will develop a more strategic approach to protecting looked-after children who are sexually exploited, including considering out-of-area residential care placements for children at risk of CSE.

How have the police responded?

South Yorkshire Police has announced that an independent investigation into its handling of the Rotherham child abuse scandal will take place.

The inquiry will "examine the role of both the police and council... and address any wrongdoings or failings", chief constable David Crompton said.

Meanwhile Crompton has said that enquiries are ongoing to bring perpetrators of CSE to justice.

Giving evidence to the home affairs select committee, he said 12 more victims of CSE in Rotherham have come forward since last Tuesday.

He added that nearly 40 people are currently on bail in relation to CSE and said that the number of staff dealing with CSE at the force increased from three in 2010 to 62 in 2014.

What else has come to light since last week?

BBC's Panorama programme reported that a Home Office official who investigated the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham accused the council of being involved in the unauthorised removal of information from her office.

According to the Guardian, the researcher’s 2002 report suggested there were then more than 270 victims of the scandal.

She told Panorama that she had sent her report to both the council and the Home Office on a Friday, but when she returned on Monday she found her office had been raided.

She added that she was then sent on an “ethnicity and diversity course” by the council and told not to refer again to the fact that suspected abusers were predominantly Asian men.