Anne Longfield launches commission to protect children from gangs

The Commission on Young Lives has a particular focus on preventing young people falling victim to gang county lines drug distribution networks.

• Analysis: Commission will look for solutions to cycles of violence

• Interview: Anne Longfield, outgoing children's commissioner for England

Involving experts from across police and crime prevention charities, the commission is running for a year and aims to develop a national system to provide opportunities to divert vulnerable children away from criminal activity.

This includes working with families and schools, and providing mental health support.

Longfield has launched the commission amid concerns that the Covid-19 pandemic has heightened the risk of exploitation vulnerable children face.

Rising rates of domestic violence, parental mental health and addiction issues are providing increasing opportunities for gangs to exploit children, she has warned.

“Covid has dealt a strong hand to the gangs and criminals who exploit vulnerable children,” said Longfield.

“It has compounded the cocktail of risks like domestic violence, parental mental health problems, addiction issues, and not attending school that can see children falling off the radar and into danger.

“At the same time, the methods used to entice and trap teenagers into criminality are brutal and increasingly sophisticated. We are making it too easy for them to use our children.

“Society is struggling to know what to do, and the response is often disjointed, underfunded and uncoordinated. Yet this is an issue that many parents are deeply worried about, and they fear is getting worse.

“The Commission on Young Lives will develop systems of protection and support to help keep vulnerable children safe and inspire them to succeed. We will show how we can achieve better outcomes for marginalised children by providing affordable solutions to government and others.

“We need to start fighting back with coordinated national action that stops the conveyor belt of vulnerable children who are being groomed, abused and denied their chance to do well in life.”

The commission is being supported by Oasis Charitable Trust, which is to run the first secure school for young offenders by the end of 2022.

Commission panel members include Oasis founder Steve Chalke, former Baroness Louise Casey, and chair of the National Police Chiefs Council Martin Hewitt.

Junior Smart, founder of the St Giles Trust SOS Project, and safeguarding consultant Kendra Houseman are also on the panel.

“Too many children continue to fall through the gaps between our various statutory systems and services," said Chalke.

“It seems that the more vulnerable a child is, the thinner the layers of support that are there for them in the first place. The pandemic many have magnified these issues, but it is society’s neglect that created them.”

LGA responds to launch of Young Lives Commission https://t.co/PZhCzfhVkQ @SAPHNAsharonOBE @annelongfield

— LGA Wellbeing (@LGAWellbeing) September 9, 2021

The commission’s launch has been backed by Local Government Association children and young people board chair Anntoinette Bramble “to help prevent young people from becoming involved in serious violence”.

But she added that while council-run youth services “have a vital role” to prevent youth crime “these services have seen funding reduced by more than two-thirds in real terms since 2010, which means limited funding for prevention work is being diverted into services to protect children who are at immediate risk of harm”.

Meanwhile, Early Intervention chief executive Jo Casebourne said that the Commission “highlights some really pertinent issues and is a great extension of Anne’s work from her time as the children’s commissioner”.

“The proposed work on a new national system of support, focused on preventing crisis and improving the life chances of vulnerable young people, could make a real difference, particularly if it is able to increase coordination nationally and locally, and to improve and simplify an overly complex system,” she added.

Plans to launch the commission were first announced last month.