Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Executive Director, People

 

Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) and Councillor Ruane, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with the following representatives:

 

Chief Superintendent Claire Bell, West Midlands Police

Detective Chief Inspector Dean Young, West Midlands Police, Chair of Child Sexual Exploitation Sub-Group of the Safeguarding Children’s Board

The Committee received a comprehensive presentation from Yolanda

Corden, Assistant Director, People, Chief Superintendent Claire Bell, West

Midlands Police and Detective Chief Inspector Dean Young, West Midlands

Police and Chair of the Child Sexual Exploitation Sub-Group of the

Safeguarding Children’s Board, together with a Briefing Note which provided

information on the local context and approaches to Child Sexual Exploitation

(CSE) in Coventry. This included:-

 

  ?Background, context and definition of CSE

  ?A description of the proposed CSE Team, including its makeup, role

    and function

  ?Local processes and procedure

  ?How referrals will be identified

  ?How the Team fits into the existing structure

  ?What data is available locally, how robust it is and how it is being used

 

The Committee noted and recognised that CSE is a national issue which

 requires a multi-agency response. In Coventry, a multi-disciplinary Team

 comprising of the following staff was being established to respond to and

 oversee CSE:-

 

  ?A Service Manager who will also be responsible for the management of the Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

  ?2 qualified Social Workers

  ?2 Children and Family Workers

  ?1 Police rep Sergeant

  ?2 Specialist CSE Youth Workers from Integrated Youth Support Service  and 1 detached Youth Worker

  ?Links to Community Safety Team via Child Sexual Violence and

   DVA Co-ordinator

  ?1 Business Service Support Officer

 

In addition, talks were also taking place with the Clinical Commissioning

Group regarding a health representative. The Team will be co-located

alongside the MASH and the Referral and Assessment Service on the third

floor of Christchurch House.  The Committee noted detailed information

relating to the role and function of the Team which will provide a central point

of contact for all professionals and develop a centre of expertise for CSE in

the City.

 

The Coventry CSE and Missing Delivery/Action Plan were endorsed by the

Local Safeguarding Children’s Board in October 2014. This will be presented

to Councillor Ruane, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, in

January, 2015. Councillor Ruane, who was present at the meeting, indicated

 that he would welcome any input from the Committee in relation to the Action

 Plan. Delivery of the actions within the Plan will be overseen by the CSE

 Strategic Working Group and reported to the Local Safeguarding Children’s

 Board.

 

The Committee and Members of the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) questioned officers and the West Midlands Police on a number of issues, including:-

 

  ?Progress on the recruitment to the posts in the multi-disciplinary

    Team

  ?Intervention work, including identifying patterns in school absences

    and the role of Education Welfare Officers

  ?The estimated scale of the issue in Coventry and whether this was

    comparable to Cities of a similar size

  ?The links between CSE and human trafficking/modern day slavery

  ?Steps being taken to educate families and the public in general

    regarding spotting signs of CSE

  ?Work being undertaken to identify and work with perpetrators of CSE

  ?The importance of and work being undertaken to establish trust and

  confidence with victims of CSE 

  ?Support given to victims of CSE, both during the investigation and

   prosecution stages of the crime

  ?The significant amount of Community engagement work being

    undertaken with local communities and faith groups

  ?Work being undertaken to change the public perception of victims of

    CSE and the need for organisations, including the Police and the

    Crown Prosecution Service to be more victim orientated.

  ?Assurances that CSE would remain a high priority for the Police in

    future years.

 

The Committee requested that their thanks to Yolanda Corden, Chief

 Superintendent Claire Bell and Detective Chief Inspector Dean Young for

 their comprehensive presentations be recorded in the Minutes. The

 Committee also expressed their support for the multi agency approach to

 CSE as reported at the meeting.

 

RESOLVED:-

 

(1)  That information regarding the ethnic and gender make up of the

  Council’s and Police’s CSE Teams be provided at a future  meeting.

 

(2)  That the Committee acknowledge and welcome the serious

  commitment of the Police Force to CSE.

 

(3)  That the Committee encourages the continued engagement with

  faith and community groups in relation to CSE issues.

 

(4)  That the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) be

  requested to ensure that patterns of school absences are

  investigated to see if these are an indicator of CSE.

 

 (5)  That the Committee request that an action plan detailing risk and

  vulnerability factors, and how they are monitored, be submitted

  to a future meeting.

 

(6)  That officers be requested to arrange a meeting of the Chair and

  Deputy Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee and the

  Chairs of the Scrutiny Boards to consider the Select Committee’s

  report into the operation of Scrutiny in Local Government.

 

(7)  That consideration of the provision of services for young people

   in Supported Accommodation be added to the Committee’s

   Work Programme for future consideration.