Jane Parfrement to report
Minutes:
Jane Parfrement, Director of Safeguarding and Disability Services provided a verbal update on issues relating to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) in the Borough.
· The 15 Jay Report recommendations;
· Ofsted had made a number of recommendations nationally.
The CSE Sub-Group of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board was charged with monitoring progress against the recommendations. Overall, the action plan was unwieldy and a refresh was required. Similar recommendations would be combined to avoid duplication. The refreshed action plan would highlight a clear set of priority actions.
Freedom of Information requests had been received asking for progress made against the 15 Jay recommendations.
Support for victims and survivors of CSE was a key area. Ongoing needs analysis by Public Health and Partners was taking place on demand, profile, and the services needed. £120,000 of immediate funding had been made available and had been given to voluntary and community sector agencies. A partnership helpline had been established, an additional post created within the Rotherham Integrated Youth Support Service to signpost to services and additional capacity had been created in teams.
The Central Government had announced a national fund of £7m for victims and survivors of CSE and sexual abuse areas that had experienced at least a 15% increase in reporting.
It was recognised that a more robust Children’s Services as a whole and more robust partnership arrangements were required to help those who were vulnerable and in need of protection. Therefore, actions had been undertaken to strengthen Children and Young People’s Services: -
· Changes within the senior management team of CYPS;
· Key appointments had been made on an interim basis;
· A restructure was under consultation;
· Increased number of staff co-located to work towards a fully operational Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH);
· Leadership arrangements to take forward the MASH implementation had been confirmed;
· Creation of a CSE Lead post in the Local Authority.
Discussion followed and the following areas were covered: -
· The Acting Chief Inspector spoke about the Police and Crime Commissioner’s commitment to further resources for the PPU; numbers of personnel would increase. Ten years ago one officer covered this role as part of their job, now there were 60+ members of staff for Rotherham;
· The Acting Chief Inspector outlined the ongoing Operations in respect of historical and current cases of CSE. The investigations were still at the victim stage, there was a long road ahead;
· The National Crime Agency was due to look at historical cases of CSE including cases where information files were missing. They were currently developing a Terms of Reference;
· There were Focus Groups for survivors and victims’ needs assessments, including support to victims to give their evidence safely and credibly and to support them through a court process;
· The Voluntary Sector Co-ordinator asked whether key messages were going to be given out?: - The Director for Safeguarding and Disability Services had spent time with Journalists from the Rotherham Advertiser providing updates, which had not been published at the time of the meeting. Newsletters were being developed to be distributed to raise awareness of progress.
Resolved: - (1) That the information shared be noted.
(2) That further updates be provided to the Children, Young People and Families’ Partnership meeting on CSE issues.