This report reveals results of the inquiry into children being treated in an appalling way not just by their abusers but, because of catastrophic failures by the very agencies that society has appointed to protect them. It is still happening, in every part of the country. The quality of the response to the abuse depends on where you live and that is inexcusable. Race is a factor but it is one of many in cases of child sexual exploitation. Officials who fail to act, for example in places like Rotherham or Rochdale, must not be allowed to evade responsibility through early retirement or resignation for other reasons and should not be paid compensation of any kind. The police, social services and the Crown Prosecution Service must all bear responsibility for the way in which vulnerable children have been left unprotected by the system. The Ministry of Justice ought to implement a number of reforms to court processes including section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999; the introduction of specialist courts either for child sexual exploitation cases or for sexual offences as a whole; and invite the Lord Chief Justice to consider recommending to the Judicial College that specific training on child sexual exploitation cases be developed and provided

This report is a follow-up to the Committee's second report of session 2013-14. That report revealed results of an inquiry into children being treated in an appalling way not just by their abusers but, because of catastrophic failures by the very agencies that society has appointed to protect them. There is no mechanism at all to suspend or remove a Police and Crime Commissioner for behaviour which falls short of criminal. The current report includes a draft Bill which suggests mechanisms for removing PCCs from their post. It is vital that children's services are dramatically improved to prevent a similar situation from happening again. It was shocking that evidence of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham was ignored by both Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police. A number of individuals attempted to bring these crimes to light, only to face obstacles from the Council and Police which in some cases questioned their credibility and the veracity of their claims. If the Council and Police had taken these warnings seriously, the abusers could have been brought to justice more quickly and some of the later victims could have been spared their ordeal. The proliferation of revelations about files which can no longer be located gives rise to public suspicion of a deliberate cover-up. The only way to address these concerns is with a full, transparent and urgent investigation

This report reveals results of the inquiry into children being treated in an appalling way not just by their abusers but, because of catastrophic failures by the very agencies that society has appointed to protect them. It is still happening, in every part of the country. The quality of the response to the abuse depends on where you live and that is inexcusable. Race is a factor but it is one of many in cases of child sexual exploitation. Officials who fail to act, for example in places like Rotherham or Rochdale, must not be allowed to evade responsibility through early retirement or resignation for other reasons and should not be paid compensation of any kind. The police, social services and the Crown Prosecution Service must all bear responsibility for the way in which vulnerable children have been left unprotected by the system. The Ministry of Justice ought to implement a number of reforms to court processes including section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999; the introduction of specialist courts either for child sexual exploitation cases or for sexual offences as a whole; and invite the Lord Chief Justice to consider recommending to the Judicial College that specific training on child sexual exploitation cases be developed and provided

Response to HC 68-I, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215058867)

This Element examines technology-assisted grooming of children for sex – henceforth, online grooming – as an illegal practice of communicative manipulation and, as such, something that research within the academic field of forensic linguistics is ideally placed to help counter. The analysis draws upon online grooming datasets of different sizes and provenance, including from law enforcement, and deploys different analytic techniques from primarily discourse analysis. Three features of online grooming discourse are focussed on: groomers' use of manipulation tactics; groomers' abuse of power asymmetries; and children's communication during online grooming. The Element also discusses ways in which findings derived from richly contextualised analysis of online grooming discourse can – when combined with co-creation projects involving child-safeguarding groups, children and lived-experience experts – add considerable value to societal efforts to counter online grooming and other forms of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.