Charity launch Government-funded national Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit

Edward Timpson, the Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families, said: “We’ve seen how the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham, Oxford and Birmingham has blighted lives and torn families apart. The consequences are devastating for children when action is not taken quickly enough to make sure help is given as soon as a need is identified.

“To respond to these challenges, we are launching a Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit, backed by £1.24 million of Government funding. This Response Unit will ensure specialist support is made available to people working in children’s safeguarding across the country, enabling them to provide a strong and robust first response to children and families who are victims of child sexual exploitation.”

The Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit has been granted £1.24m and will be formed of a team of specialists whose role it is to offer tailored help to local areas. 

From supporting senior management teams to helping practitioners, the team has valuable expertise in five key safeguarding areas – children’s services, health, policing, education and community services and professionals engaging with parents.

The Response Unit is fully operational and available to provide support to any professionals whose work involves safeguarding children, from managers developing a child sexual exploitation strategy to practitioners working on particular cases.

The Minister added: “Through initiatives like the Response Unit – as well as major reforms to social worker recruitment and assessment, and a drive for innovation throughout the system – we hope to transform the opportunities for vulnerable children. 

“We must do all we can to identify children who are vulnerable to abuse and neglect quickly and get them the help they and their families need. I believe these measures will help build on the many strengths within our child protection system and make vulnerable children safer.”

NWG network which is based in Derby and reaches over 12,600 professionals across the UK and staffing have doubled in size following the award from the Department for Education.

Individuals working for NWG had influential roles in high profile child sexual exploitation cases such as Operation Retriever in Derby which saw 13 defendants arrested. Its main aim is to work with partners in the police, social, healthcare, third sector organisations as well as others committed to tackling child sexual exploitation.

Chief Executive of the NWG Network, Sheila Taylor MBE, said: “I am delighted to launch the Response Unit, and that Government chose NWG to host this project. NWG will continue to be a single point of contact for professionals at the heart of tackling child sexual exploitation and the Response Unit will build on that support. 

“Hosting the Response Unit means our organisation almost doubles in size and increases our support across the country. Our experience and independence means we can work flexibly to support professionals who are determined to tackle child sexual exploitation in our country.  We are developing a Register of Skills and Knowledge identifying professionals across the country who have particular skills, knowledge and experience to share learning and assist local areas to develop and improve response to young people and parents.

 “In order to end the suffering of children we all have a part to play – we need to encourage people to speak out and we want to bring these issues out into the open. If we are to succeed we must all work together and protect our children.”. 

Javed Khan, Barnardo’s Chief Executive, said: “We fully support the launch of this national child sexual exploitation response unit which will develop a more consistent approach to tackling this appalling crime.

“The unit will provide crucial support and advice to frontline workers battling this scourge, enabling them to quickly respond to children and families targeted by abusers.”

For more information, visit: http://www.nwgnetwork.org 

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