Agenda item
NOTICE OF MOTION - CURRENT CONCERNS OVER THE SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE RESPONSE TO CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
This Council notes:-
· On 23rd November 2021, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report titled ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ in which it compared complaints around South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) handling of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) cases in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 to current practice, highlighted a number of continuing problems in SYP’s handling of CSE investigations, and made a series of recommendations to SYP.
· The IOPC said “there is more work to be done to build on and maintain the knowledge and skills of South Yorkshire Police officers and staff” and recommended “South Yorkshire Police ensures knowledge and skills of those involved in child sexual exploitation work are kept up to date as part of their continuous improvement cycle.”
· The IOPC also pointed to a 2014 inspection of SYP police which found “a cause for concern about crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department (mostly through professional third-party reports) were not all being recorded” and noted that a 2020 re-inspection found “significant under-recording of crimes committed against vulnerable children.” As a result, in its November 2021 report the IOPC recommended that: “South Yorkshire Police takes steps to ensure that crime recording practice in its public protection departments is compliant with the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime.”
· The IOPC report highlighted continuing failings in the way SYP deals with victims of child sexual exploitation, including noting a lack of monitoring of compliance with The Victims’ Code, failing to regularly update victims on progress in contravention of SYP’s own policies, and a lack of understanding of the role of local independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs) in supporting victims. As a result, the IOPC made a series of recommendations for SYP to:-
o “ensure it has a way of effectively monitoring compliance with the Victims’ Code. This should include the quality of interactions between itself and others and not just a ‘tick box exercise’ of the various entitlements being made available.”
o “take steps to ensure that victims are regularly updated, and at least once every 28 days, in line with expectations.”
o And “continues to work with the local ISVA service to improve its working arrangements. This should include:-
§ “a named point of contact at South Yorkshire Police for use by the ISVA service
§ “ensuring that South Yorkshire Police representatives who have contact with victims and survivors fully understand the ISVA service’s role and can explain this to others when needed
§ “agreement on how updates are provided to victims and survivors
§ “how the ISVA service could be involved in South Yorkshire Police training to help raise awareness about its role and responsibilities and how they can work together.”
· In addition to these recommendations, the IOPC report contained a series of concerning statements, including:-
o “South Yorkshire Police has told us about many changes it has made since the matters we investigated took place. We have not assessed whether these changes have led to improvements in practice but remain worried that despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern.”
o “Additionally, the ISVA service manager told us that although they had seen some improvement in 2015-16, there had been some deterioration since then.”
· In an article published on 23rd November 2021 on the IOPC’s website introducing the ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ report, IOPC Director of Major Investigations, Steve Noonan said: “Survivors of abuse will no doubt be deeply concerned, as are we, that some of these problems still exist today and we urge the police to act on these recommendations urgently to provide much needed reassurance to the public.”
This Council also notes:-
· On 30th December 2021, The Times published an article titled ‘Rotherham grooming scandal: Priti Patel says police must record ethnicity of child abuse suspects’, containing information taken from SYP’s internal document ‘Child Exploitation Strategic Profile’, from December 2019.
· According to The Times, the newspaper had originally requested a copy of the strategic profile in August 2020 under a Freedom of Information request and had been denied. Following appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), SYP was forced to share the profile.
· The Times also reports that: “The force admitted in internal emails that it was trying to block disclosure, freedom of information requests show. One officer said: “I think we need to stick to our guns as to do anything else would create an unwelcome precedent”.
· SYP’s own Child Exploitation Strategic Profile contains concerning admissions that SYP:-
o Failed to record the ethnicity of suspects in 67% of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) non-cyber enabled cases in the Rotherham District in 2019, with this being worse than Doncaster (54%), Sheffield (52%), and Barnsley (47%).
o Saw a 30% reduction in CSE offences reported despite a rising national trend. The report said: “It is difficult to ascertain the reason why offending has reduced. However, PVP are dealing with competing demands with CCE, which in turn may have led to a reduction in proactively identifying CSE.”
o Did not have access to a series of data/information that may indicate that a child or young person is being exploited. These indicators included: children who have attended sexual health clinics with sexually transmitted infections, children requesting contraception at an early age, pregnancy or requesting terminations, children absent from school, children excluded from education, and children displaying sexually inappropriate behaviour.
o Identifies children repeatedly missing from home as a possible indicator of CSE, but says that: "Currently the Missing from Home System is impacting on the Force's ability to deal with missing persons effectively as analytical opportunities are limited."
o Identified Rotherham as a ‘hotspot’ for Child Sexual Exploitation in December 2019. The report states: "Rotherham continues to be a 'hotspot' for CSE offending in South Yorkshire."
This Council, therefore, resolves to:-
· Regularly monitor South Yorkshire Police’s progress against recommendations made by the IOPC in its November 2021 report, with scrutiny arrangements to be determined by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as a matter of urgency.
· Ask the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to give consideration to including scrutiny of the issues raised in South Yorkshire Police’s 2019 Child Exploitation Strategic Profile and by The Times’ investigation in the above scrutiny arrangements.
· Ask the Leader of the Council and other Group Leaders to, individually or collectively, write to South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney and South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings:-
o Expressing concerns in line with the IOPC that “despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern” in the way South Yorkshire Police handles CSE investigations;
o Calling for urgent action to fully adopt all of the IOPC’s recommendations and for SYP to cooperate with this Council’s scrutiny arrangements to monitor progress; and
o Urging the force to be more transparent with members of the public and press, including readily complying with Freedom of Information requests and establishing a regular publishing schedule of materials related to Child Sexual Exploitation and other matters – including publishing updates to the Child Exploitation Strategic Profile as they are produced internally – in order to avoid a repeat of the circumstances leading up to the article published by The Times referenced in this motion.
Mover:- Councillor Barley Seconder: Councillor Baum-Dixon
Minutes:
It was moved by Councillor Barley and seconded by Councillor Baum-Dixon that:-
This Council notes:-
· On 23rd November 2021, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report titled ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ in which it compared complaints around South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) handling of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) cases in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 to current practice, highlighted a number of continuing problems in SYP’s handling of CSE investigations, and made a series of recommendations to SYP.
· The IOPC said “there is more work to be done to build on and maintain the knowledge and skills of South Yorkshire Police officers and staff” and recommended “South Yorkshire Police ensures knowledge and skills of those involved in child sexual exploitation work are kept up to date as part of their continuous improvement cycle.”
· The IOPC also pointed to a 2014 inspection of SYP police which found “a cause for concern about crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department (mostly through professional third-party reports) were not all being recorded” and noted that a 2020 re-inspection found “significant under-recording of crimes committed against vulnerable children.” As a result, in its November 2021 report the IOPC recommended that: “South Yorkshire Police takes steps to ensure that crime recording practice in its public protection departments is compliant with the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime.”
· The IOPC report highlighted continuing failings in the way SYP deals with victims of child sexual exploitation, including noting a lack of monitoring of compliance with The Victims’ Code, failing to regularly update victims on progress in contravention of SYP’s own policies, and a lack of understanding of the role of local independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs) in supporting victims. As a result, the IOPC made a series of recommendations for SYP to:-
o “ensure it has a way of effectively monitoring compliance with the Victims’ Code. This should include the quality of interactions between itself and others and not just a ‘tick box exercise’ of the various entitlements being made available.”
o “take steps to ensure that victims are regularly updated, and at least once every 28 days, in line with expectations.”
o And “continues to work with the local ISVA service to improve its working arrangements. This should include:-
§ “a named point of contact at South Yorkshire Police for use by the ISVA service
§ “ensuring that South Yorkshire Police representatives who have contact with victims and survivors fully understand the ISVA service’s role and can explain this to others when needed
§ “agreement on how updates are provided to victims and survivors
§ “how the ISVA service could be involved in South Yorkshire Police training to help raise awareness about its role and responsibilities and how they can work together.”
· In addition to these recommendations, the IOPC report contained a series of concerning statements, including:-
o “South Yorkshire Police has told us about many changes it has made since the matters we investigated took place. We have not assessed whether these changes have led to improvements in practice but remain worried that despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern.”
o “Additionally, the ISVA service manager told us that although they had seen some improvement in 2015-16, there had been some deterioration since then.”
· In an article published on 23rd November 2021 on the IOPC’s website introducing the ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ report, IOPC Director of Major Investigations, Steve Noonan said: “Survivors of abuse will no doubt be deeply concerned, as are we, that some of these problems still exist today and we urge the police to act on these recommendations urgently to provide much needed reassurance to the public.”
This Council also notes:-
· On 30th December 2021, The Times published an article titled ‘Rotherham grooming scandal: Priti Patel says police must record ethnicity of child abuse suspects’, containing information taken from SYP’s internal document ‘Child Exploitation Strategic Profile’, from December 2019.
· According to The Times, the newspaper had originally requested a copy of the strategic profile in August 2020 under a Freedom of Information request and had been denied. Following appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), SYP was forced to share the profile.
· The Times also reports that: “The force admitted in internal emails that it was trying to block disclosure, freedom of information requests show. One officer said: “I think we need to stick to our guns as to do anything else would create an unwelcome precedent”.
· SYP’s own Child Exploitation Strategic Profile contains concerning admissions that SYP:-
o Failed to record the ethnicity of suspects in 67% of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) non-cyber enabled cases in the Rotherham District in 2019, with this being worse than Doncaster (54%), Sheffield (52%), and Barnsley (47%).
o Saw a 30% reduction in CSE offences reported despite a rising national trend. The report said: “It is difficult to ascertain the reason why offending has reduced. However, PVP are dealing with competing demands with CCE, which in turn may have led to a reduction in proactively identifying CSE.”
o Did not have access to a series of data/information that may indicate that a child or young person is being exploited. These indicators included: children who have attended sexual health clinics with sexually transmitted infections, children requesting contraception at an early age, pregnancy or requesting terminations, children absent from school, children excluded from education, and children displaying sexually inappropriate behaviour.
o Identifies children repeatedly missing from home as a possible indicator of CSE, but says that: "Currently the Missing from Home System is impacting on the Force's ability to deal with missing persons effectively as analytical opportunities are limited."
o Identified Rotherham as a ‘hotspot’ for Child Sexual Exploitation in December 2019. The report states: "Rotherham continues to be a 'hotspot' for CSE offending in South Yorkshire."
This Council, therefore, resolves to:-
· Regularly monitor South Yorkshire Police’s progress against recommendations made by the IOPC in its November 2021 report, with scrutiny arrangements to be determined by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as a matter of urgency.
· Ask the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to give consideration to including scrutiny of the issues raised in South Yorkshire Police’s 2019 Child Exploitation Strategic Profile and by The Times’ investigation in the above scrutiny arrangements.
· Ask the Leader of the Council and other Group Leaders to, individually or collectively, write to South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney and South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings:-
o Expressing concerns in line with the IOPC that “despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern” in the way South Yorkshire Police handles CSE investigations;
o Calling for urgent action to fully adopt all of the IOPC’s recommendations and for SYP to co-operate with this Council’s scrutiny arrangements to monitor progress; and
o Urging the force to be more transparent with members of the public and press, including readily complying with Freedom of Information requests and establishing a regular publishing schedule of materials related to Child Sexual Exploitation and other matters – including publishing updates to the Child Exploitation Strategic Profile as they are produced internally – in order to avoid a repeat of the circumstances leading up to the article published by The Times referenced in this motion.
At this point it was moved by Councillor Read and seconded by Councillor Cusworth that the motion be amended. The amendment below was accepted and became the substantive motion:-
· On 23rd November 2021, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report titled ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ in which it compared complaints around South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) handling of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) cases in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 to current practice, highlighted a number of continuing problems in SYP’s handling of CSE investigations, and made a series of recommendations to SYP.
· The IOPC said “there is more work to be done to build on and maintain the knowledge and skills of South Yorkshire Police officers and staff” and recommended “South Yorkshire Police ensures knowledge and skills of those involved in child sexual exploitation work are kept up to date as part of their continuous improvement cycle.”
· The IOPC also pointed to a 2014 inspection of SYP police which found “a cause for concern about crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department (mostly through professional third-party reports) were not all being recorded” and noted that a 2020 re-inspection found “significant under-recording of crimes committed against vulnerable children.” As a result, in its November 2021 report the IOPC recommended that: “South Yorkshire Police takes steps to ensure that crime recording practice in its public protection departments is compliant with the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime.”
· The IOPC report highlighted continuing failings in the way SYP deals with victims of child sexual exploitation, including noting a lack of monitoring of compliance with The Victims’ Code, failing to regularly update victims on progress in contravention of SYP’s own policies, and a lack of understanding of the role of local independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs) in supporting victims. As a result, the IOPC made a series of recommendations for SYP to:-
o “ensure it has a way of effectively monitoring compliance with the Victims’ Code. This should include the quality of interactions between itself and others and not just a ‘tick box exercise’ of the various entitlements being made available.”
o “take steps to ensure that victims are regularly updated, and at least once every 28 days, in line with expectations.”
o And “continues to work with the local ISVA service to improve its working arrangements. This should include:-
§ “a named point of contact at South Yorkshire Police for use by the ISVA service
§ “ensuring that South Yorkshire Police representatives who have contact with victims and survivors fully understand the ISVA service’s role and can explain this to others when needed
§ “agreement on how updates are provided to victims and survivors
§ “how the ISVA service could be involved in South Yorkshire Police training to help raise awareness about its role and responsibilities and how they can work together.”
· In addition to these recommendations, the IOPC report contained a series of concerning statements, including:-
o “South Yorkshire Police has told us about many changes it has made since the matters we investigated took place. We have not assessed whether these changes have led to improvements in practice but remain worried that despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern.”
o “Additionally, the ISVA service manager told us that although they had seen some improvement in 2015-16, there had been some deterioration since then.”
· In an article published on 23rd November 2021 on the IOPC’s website introducing the ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ report, IOPC Director of Major Investigations, Steve Noonan said: “Survivors of abuse will no doubt be deeply concerned, as are we, that some of these problems still exist today and we urge the police to act on these recommendations urgently to provide much needed reassurance to the public.”
This Council also notes:-
· On 30th December 2021, The Times published an article titled ‘Rotherham grooming scandal: Priti Patel says police must record ethnicity of child abuse suspects’, containing information taken from SYP’s internal document ‘Child Exploitation Strategic Profile’, from December 2019.
· According to The Times, the newspaper had originally requested a copy of the strategic profile in August 2020 under a Freedom of Information request and had been denied. Following appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), SYP was forced to share the profile.
· The Times also reports that: “The force admitted in internal emails that it was trying to block disclosure, freedom of information requests show. One officer said: “I think we need to stick to our guns as to do anything else would create an unwelcome precedent”.
· SYP’s own Child Exploitation Strategic Profile contains concerning admissions that SYP:-
o Failed to record the ethnicity of suspects in 67% of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) non-cyber enabled cases in the Rotherham District in 2019, with this being worse than Doncaster (54%), Sheffield (52%), and Barnsley (47%).
o Saw a 30% reduction in CSE offences reported despite a rising national trend. The report said: “It is difficult to ascertain the reason why offending has reduced. However, PVP are dealing with competing demands with CCE, which in turn may have led to a reduction in proactively identifying CSE.”
o Did not have access to a series of data/information that may indicate that a child or young person is being exploited. These indicators included: children who have attended sexual health clinics with sexually transmitted infections, children requesting contraception at an early age, pregnancy or requesting terminations, children absent from school, children excluded from education, and children displaying sexually inappropriate behaviour.
o Identifies children repeatedly missing from home as a possible indicator of CSE, but says that: "Currently the Missing from Home System is impacting on the Force's ability to deal with missing persons effectively as analytical opportunities are limited."
o Identified Rotherham as a ‘hotspot’ for Child Sexual Exploitation in December 2019. The report states: "Rotherham continues to be a 'hotspot' for CSE offending in South Yorkshire."
· [insert] That the Leader of Rotherham Council has already written twice to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police to raise his concerns and seek assurances in relation to these matters.
Further notes:-
· That in a letter to Rotherham MP Sarah Champion dated 16th November, the Government has confirmed that it does not intend to continue to support Rotherham Council with costs associated with Operation Stovewood, effectively cutting resources to help survivors of CSE to secure justice by half a million pounds a year.
This Council, therefore, resolves to:-
· Regularly monitor South Yorkshire Police’s progress against recommendations made by the IOPC in its November 2021 report, with scrutiny arrangements to be determined by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as a matter of urgency.
· Ask the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to give consideration to including scrutiny of the issues raised in South Yorkshire Police’s 2019 Child Exploitation Strategic Profile and by The Times’ investigation in the above scrutiny arrangements.
· Ask the [delete] Leader of the Council and other [to here] Group Leaders to, [delete] individually or collectively, [to here] [insert] follow the example of the Council Leader and [to here] write to South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney and South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings:-
o Expressing concerns in line with the IOPC that “despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern” in the way South Yorkshire Police handles CSE investigations;
o Calling for urgent action to fully adopt all of the IOPC’s recommendations and for SYP to co-operate with this Council’s scrutiny arrangements to monitor progress; and
o Urging the force to be more transparent with members of the public and press, including readily complying with Freedom of Information requests and establishing a regular publishing schedule of materials related to Child Sexual Exploitation and other matters – including publishing updates to the Child Exploitation Strategic Profile as they are produced internally – in order to avoid a repeat of the circumstances leading up to the article published by The Times referenced in this motion.
· [insert] Calls on the Government to renew the level of commitment it has shown until this time to supporting Operation Stovewood, by putting in place a sustainable funding package towards the Council’s costs of no less than £500,000 per year, until the conclusion of criminal proceedings. [to here]
The motion now reads:-
This Council notes:-
· On 23rd November 2021, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report titled ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ in which it compared complaints around South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) handling of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) cases in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 to current practice, highlighted a number of continuing problems in SYP’s handling of CSE investigations, and made a series of recommendations to SYP.
· The IOPC said “there is more work to be done to build on and maintain the knowledge and skills of South Yorkshire Police officers and staff” and recommended “South Yorkshire Police ensures knowledge and skills of those involved in child sexual exploitation work are kept up to date as part of their continuous improvement cycle.”
· The IOPC also pointed to a 2014 inspection of SYP police which found “a cause for concern about crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department (mostly through professional third-party reports) were not all being recorded” and noted that a 2020 re-inspection found “significant under-recording of crimes committed against vulnerable children.” As a result, in its November 2021 report the IOPC recommended that: “South Yorkshire Police takes steps to ensure that crime recording practice in its public protection departments is compliant with the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime.”
· The IOPC report highlighted continuing failings in the way SYP deals with victims of child sexual exploitation, including noting a lack of monitoring of compliance with The Victims’ Code, failing to regularly update victims on progress in contravention of SYP’s own policies, and a lack of understanding of the role of local independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs) in supporting victims. As a result, the IOPC made a series of recommendations for SYP to:-
o “ensure it has a way of effectively monitoring compliance with the Victims’ Code. This should include the quality of interactions between itself and others and not just a ‘tick box exercise’ of the various entitlements being made available.”
o “take steps to ensure that victims are regularly updated, and at least once every 28 days, in line with expectations.”
o And “continues to work with the local ISVA service to improve its working arrangements. This should include:-
§ “a named point of contact at South Yorkshire Police for use by the ISVA service
§ “ensuring that South Yorkshire Police representatives who have contact with victims and survivors fully understand the ISVA service’s role and can explain this to others when needed
§ “agreement on how updates are provided to victims and survivors
§ “how the ISVA service could be involved in South Yorkshire Police training to help raise awareness about its role and responsibilities and how they can work together.”
· In addition to these recommendations, the IOPC report contained a series of concerning statements, including:-
o “South Yorkshire Police has told us about many changes it has made since the matters we investigated took place. We have not assessed whether these changes have led to improvements in practice but remain worried that despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern.”
o “Additionally, the ISVA service manager told us that although they had seen some improvement in 2015-16, there had been some deterioration since then.”
· In an article published on 23rd November 2021 on the IOPC’s website introducing the ‘Operation Linden – Learning and Recommendations’ report, IOPC Director of Major Investigations, Steve Noonan said: “Survivors of abuse will no doubt be deeply concerned, as are we, that some of these problems still exist today and we urge the police to act on these recommendations urgently to provide much needed reassurance to the public.”
This Council also notes:-
· On 30th December 2021, The Times published an article titled ‘Rotherham grooming scandal: Priti Patel says police must record ethnicity of child abuse suspects’, containing information taken from SYP’s internal document ‘Child Exploitation Strategic Profile’, from December 2019.
· According to The Times, the newspaper had originally requested a copy of the strategic profile in August 2020 under a Freedom of Information request and had been denied. Following appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), SYP was forced to share the profile.
· The Times also reports that: “The force admitted in internal emails that it was trying to block disclosure, freedom of information requests show. One officer said: “I think we need to stick to our guns as to do anything else would create an unwelcome precedent”.
· SYP’s own Child Exploitation Strategic Profile contains concerning admissions that SYP:-
o Failed to record the ethnicity of suspects in 67% of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) non-cyber enabled cases in the Rotherham District in 2019, with this being worse than Doncaster (54%), Sheffield (52%), and Barnsley (47%).
o Saw a 30% reduction in CSE offences reported despite a rising national trend. The report said: “It is difficult to ascertain the reason why offending has reduced. However, PVP are dealing with competing demands with CCE, which in turn may have led to a reduction in proactively identifying CSE.”
o Did not have access to a series of data/information that may indicate that a child or young person is being exploited. These indicators included: children who have attended sexual health clinics with sexually transmitted infections, children requesting contraception at an early age, pregnancy or requesting terminations, children absent from school, children excluded from education, and children displaying sexually inappropriate behaviour.
o Identifies children repeatedly missing from home as a possible indicator of CSE, but says that: "Currently the Missing from Home System is impacting on the Force's ability to deal with missing persons effectively as analytical opportunities are limited."
o Identified Rotherham as a ‘hotspot’ for Child Sexual Exploitation in December 2019. The report states: "Rotherham continues to be a 'hotspot' for CSE offending in South Yorkshire."
· That the Leader of Rotherham Council has already written twice to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police to raise his concerns and seek assurances in relation to these matters.
Further notes:-
· That in a letter to Rotherham MP Sarah Champion dated 16th November, the Government has confirmed that it does not intend to continue to support Rotherham Council with costs associated with Operation Stovewood, effectively cutting resources to help survivors of CSE to secure justice by half a million pounds a year.
This Council, therefore, resolves to:-
· Regularly monitor South Yorkshire Police’s progress against recommendations made by the IOPC in its November 2021 report, with scrutiny arrangements to be determined by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as a matter of urgency.
· Ask the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to give consideration to including scrutiny of the issues raised in South Yorkshire Police’s 2019 Child Exploitation Strategic Profile and by The Times’ investigation in the above scrutiny arrangements.
· Ask the Group Leaders to, follow the example of the Council Leader and write to South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney and South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings:-
o Expressing concerns in line with the IOPC that “despite multiple reports and recommendations, there are still areas of concern” in the way South Yorkshire Police handles CSE investigations;
o Calling for urgent action to fully adopt all of the IOPC’s recommendations and for SYP to co-operate with this Council’s scrutiny arrangements to monitor progress; and
o Urging the force to be more transparent with members of the public and press, including readily complying with Freedom of Information requests and establishing a regular publishing schedule of materials related to Child Sexual Exploitation and other matters – including publishing updates to the Child Exploitation Strategic Profile as they are produced internally – in order to avoid a repeat of the circumstances leading up to the article published by The Times referenced in this motion.
· Calls on the Government to renew the level of commitment it has shown until this time to supporting Operation Stovewood, by putting in place a sustainable funding package towards the Council’s costs of no less than £500,000 per year, until the conclusion of criminal proceedings.
On being put to the vote, the motion was carried unanimously.
