Review finds “no evidence” that child sexual exploitation “may be occurring on the same scale as the past” in Rotherham

The Rotherham Conservative group told a full council meeting in November that a working group made up of Conservative councillors had found “multiple examples of active grooming and CSE in multiple locations across Rotherham”.

The motion called for the council to acknowledge that “CSE may be occurring on the same scale as in the past.”

The report alleged that teenage girls had been given mobile phones by older Asian men, and are being picked up late at night; that girls are being sold for sex from a petrol station and takeaway shop, and that girls are being taken by older Asian men to a fast-food restaurant, and then other men are taking them to locations across the north of England.

Following the allegations, Chief Officers from RMBC, South Yorkshire Police and Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) commissioned the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership (RSCP) to undertake an independent review to examine the concerns raised “in an objective and transparent way.”

A report to be probed by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee on Friday (May 27) outlines a review which was completed on March 14 by the partnership, which is made up of chair Jenny Myers, former head of public protection for Derbyshire Police Matt Thompson, and Jenny Coles, a registered social worker and former strategic director of children.

MORE: Opposition councillor accuses Rotherham Council of “whitewash” over child sexual exploitation review

The group reviewed South Yorkshire Police and RMBC’s response to CSE concerns, and the actions taken following the allegations.

The report states that the police and council’s response to information provided by the Conservative group was “effective and robust”, and that the “specific allegations” from the briefing paper were “not founded”.

The report adds that “The review team has found no evidence that CSE may be occurring on the same scale as the past”, and the team “found no new evidence that SYP in Rotherham currently deny that CSE is acontinuing problem.”

It adds that a weekly Child Exploitation Tasking Group, chaired by South Yorkshire Police, and made up of RMBC’s licensing teams and anti-social behaviour officers, youth offending team and Barnardo’s, “review all new intelligence submissions, try and understand the concerns, map, and put into place plans and actions to mitigate or eliminate the risk”.

There were very few areas where the review considered the strategy to prevent CSE could be tighter, the report adds.

It stated that many of the actions requested by the Conservative Group are already being addressed by a strategy to tackle CSE, including a public information campaign; a review of internal procedures for handling reports and intelligence that may indicate CSE; and targeted “known and potential CSE hot spots”.

The Conservative group also pressed for a “full and unreserved apology to survivors for council failings”, which the review team did not “feel able” to comment on.

The report states: ” The review team does not feel able to comment on this other than to say in interview with the CEX and Leader of the Council, it understands and has seen written evidence of a considerable number of public apologies to survivors and their families made by the Council over the last few years.

“It would be trite to say an apology makes things better as it takes a whole range of actions, including a culture change and a trust and confidence that it can never happen again.

“Rotherham does continue to commission support services for survivors and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to ensure support is available.”

The report concludes that the concerns raised “taken extremely seriously by senior leaders, and that councillors “had shared with the police a number of concerning bits of information and quite rightly wanted assurance that they had been acted upon”

The team suggested a number of improvements, including earlier CSE training for new councillors, the development of a communication plan to provide better public engagement of CSE awareness campaigns; a programme to collate the views and feedback of survivors to inform future services; and the development of an awareness programme in schools and colleges.

Councillor Zachary Collingham, deputy leader of the Rotherham Conservative group told the local democracy reporting service that the group will continue to work on futher improvements to services.

Coun Collingham added: “While the review does provide reassurance, it also identifies areas for improvement.

“These include public reporting processes, how CSE is scrutinised and maximising the voice of survivors; just some of the areas we raised in our report.

“We will be working to ensure the Council, the RSCP and SYP keep striving for better.

“There remains too wide a gap between the strategic efforts clearly being made to tackle CSE and the firsthand experience of some survivors, members of the public and Councillors on the ground.

“We will continue to work with all on further improvements and encourage anyone with CSE concerns to report them to SYP, so that no stone is left unturned.”

The full report can be viewed here.