Despite local authority children’s services departments having a duty to look after trafficked minors, responsibility for child trafficking at a national level rests with the Home Office as an immigration issue.
Campaigners are now calling for ownership of the issue to be handed over to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) so a more child-centric approach can be adopted and authorities can be given a clear steer on how to act.
In July communities minister Andrew Stunell appeared to signal such a shift had taken place. He described child trafficking as a "new and important responsibility that the [Communities] department is assuming". But a ministerial letter seen by CYP Now has since dismissed his statement as an "inadvertent mistake".
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