Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Round-table
Marc Jones, Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner and APCC Deputy Victims Portfolio Lead, recently hosted a high-level round-table on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSE/A) with key stakeholders across Law Enforcement, Government and the Voluntary Sector.
The event was used to launch a senior level, strategic, national network to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse. This network will enable better co-ordination of work being taken forward by different agencies; it will also provide a forum for a high level strategic view to shape and inform priorities going forward.
Commenting on the round-table, Mr Jones said:
“Tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse, and preventing such abuse in the future, needs to be a top priority, not just for Government but for us as a society. A huge amount of excellent work is already being done to tackle these appalling crimes and protect children and young people – but there is still a further opportunity to better align existing activity in a strategic way and identify key priorities. That is why we need to have a national, senior level CSE/A network, to bring together senior leaders across Law Enforcement, Government and the Voluntary Sector.
“I am therefore very pleased that the recent round-table marked the start of a much-needed conversation amongst all such senior leaders about how we can better align our work and priorities through the establishment of just such a national network.”
Sheila Taylor MBE, NWG (National Working Group) CEO said:
“The NWG is excited to be involved in the development of the proposed network. We hope the project will build on the existing professional network the NWG facilitates within the field of CSE, as well as connecting with other networks addressing associated forms of abuse and exploitation."
Cllr Roy Perry, Vice Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:
“Councils are committed to tackling child sexual abuse in all its forms, and this roundtable was a valuable opportunity for senior leaders from a range of agencies to come together and consider how to ensure that joint working at a strategic level is as effective as partnership work locally. No single agency can expect to effectively tackle child sexual abuse alone, and it is vital that all work, be it national, regional or local, is planned and carried out with the spirit of partnership at its heart.”