The Chief Executive will submit a report (Document “Z”) which provides an update to and builds on the report presented to the Executive on 6th November 2018 and subsequently to the District’s Area Committees regarding the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). It now focuses on the Strategic Response to all forms of exploitation in Children and Adults and how partners from the Working Together to Safeguard Children – the Bradford Partnership and the Bradford Safeguarding Adults Board work to drive improvements across the District and to hold agencies to account for their work in their area. This report also outlines the emergence of other complex safeguarding themes and outlines how partners are effectively collaborating and focussing upon the protection of vulnerable Children and Adults.

Recommended –

(1)       The Executive is invited to endorse the contents of this report.

(2)       The Executive shall receive a further update on the progress of             the response to exploitation in 12 months time.

(3)       That subsequent reports will be provided to Area Committees.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee:  Children’s Services

(Mark Griffin - 01274 434361)

The Chief Executive submitted a report (Document “Z”) which provided an update to and built on the report presented to the Executive on 6th November 2018 and subsequently to the district’s Area Committees regarding the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).  It now focused on the strategic response to all forms of exploitation in Children and Adults and how partners were working together to safeguard children – the Bradford Partnership and the Bradford Safeguarding Adults Board work to drive improvements across the district and to hold agencies to account for their work in their area. The report also outlined the emergence of other complex safeguarding themes and outlined how partners were effectively collaborating and focussing upon the protection of vulnerable children and adults.

The Chief Executive stressed that this was a significant annual report setting out what the Council and its Partners were doing to protect vulnerable children and adults.  The report was a testimony to the work done to strengthen our safeguarding arrangements and how the strong partnership work was paying dividend.  One of the emerging agendas in line with other cities in the country was the issue of county lines, wheredrug gangs from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, often using violence to drive out local dealers and exploiting children and vulnerable people to sell drugs.

A number of partner organisations were present at the meeting, including West Yorkshire Police and Barnardos, who gave an overview of the work done by them.

Overall good progress had been made in Bradford to tackle the issue of exploitation, although there had been a downturn in some areas of risk such as the criminal exploitation of children, the work of the Partnership was to build on the achievements and not be complacent in any way.

Significant challenges remained in the area of adults and this was a new emerging piece of work which the Partnership would build on.

The West Yorkshire Police representative stated that the work done in the district was exemplary, with keen interest from other parts of the country on how we were tackling the issue of CSE in the Bradford district. She alluded to the figures set out in the report and commended the excellent partnership work.

In response to a question by the Leader on the work being undertaken in the area of Adults, the Police representative stated that the exploitation routes in the area of adults was similar to Children’s, with vulnerability being the key factor and furthermore County Lines was a particular growing area of activity, with vulnerable adults used in the illicit drugs trade.  In essence the all age approach as well as identifying and tackling risks and ensuring there was a good reporting mechanism were in place to deal with the problem.

Representatives from Barnardos alluded to the engagement work they had done with children around relationships, self esteem, drugs, criminality and CSE, and as result there had been some good outcomes, including some one to one work with certain children who were identified to be at greater risk.  It was stressed that the voice of the young person was a key element of the work done by Barnardos.

The Leader acknowledged the valuable work undertaken by all Partners, and that awareness was key in tackling issues across the board as well as enabling young people to articulate their concerns.

The Children and Families Portfolio holder in welcoming the report and progress made stated that the report highlighted the issues we faced as a district and in no way were we complacent in tackling what was a very serious issue.  He thanked Partners for the work done and that there was now a better understanding of the risks and that the assessments undertaken were now more thorough, which could only be seen as a positive.

The Police representative acknowledged that the depth of knowledge in this area had improved significantly and this would better ensure that we managed risk more effectively.

In response to a question regarding the work done around criminal activity, the Police representative stated that Home Office funding had enabled some targeted work to be done in the district to support families and individuals at risk and that some of this work had yielded some positive results.

In response to a question regarding work done with perpetrators, it was acknowledged that this area of work was difficult and that outcomes amongst this group were generally poor.

It was also highlighted that capturing the children’s voice presented particular challenges, but was crucial in tackling exploitation.  In addition some work was also being undertaken with young men around boundaries and acceptable relationships.

The Police representative also stressed that tougher sentences for slavery and trafficking offences acted as a good deterrent.

The Healthy People and Places Portfolio Holder thanked officers for broadening the report to include vulnerable adults and she questioned what the concept of “cuckooing” meant .  In response it was explained by the Police representative that “cuckooing” referred to criminal activity where criminals commandeered a vulnerable adults home and then operated drug dealing and other criminal activity from that property.  Some engagement work in this area had been done, and it was stressed that any suspicious activities or concerns should be reported to the Police or through Crimestoppers.

In response to a question regarding identifying signs of those at risk, the Police representative stated that vigilance was key as well as identifying anything out of the ordinary.

The Deputy Leader stated that he was encouraged by the work done by Partners and the progress made in tackling CSE, and that the e-safeguarding training figures in schools were also encouraging.

The Leader thanked officers and Partners for attending the meeting and providing a detailed explanation of the work being undertaken to protect children and vulnerable adults at risk from exploitation, adding that this was an important issue that needed continued focus as well as tackling issues around modern slavery.

Resolved –

(1)       That the contents of Document “Z” be endorsed.

(2)       That the Executive shall receive a further update on the progress         of the response to exploitation in 12 months time.

(3)       That subsequent reports be provided to Area Committees.

ACTION: Chief Executive

Overview and Scrutiny Committee:  Children’s Services