Agenda item

To present - Ian Dean, Director, Lisa McCrindle, Policy Advisor and Kairika Karsna, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer - Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse

The Chair introduced the report which highlighted the findings from The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) and their recent “scale and nature of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)” report and provided information on the Centre’s current work to support councils and their partners.

The Chair welcomed Ian Dean, Director, Lisa McCrindle, Policy Advisor and Kairika Karsna, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer - Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse to introduce their presentation.

Kairika introduced the presentation and highlighted the following key points:

·       The CSA Centre was established 5 years ago with the first scoping report, Measuring the scale and changing nature of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.

·       Prior to the report there were no documents that brought together different pieces of evidence on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse.

·       In June 2021, the latest evidence published by the CSA Centre summarises what the centre currently does and doesn’t know on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse, drawing on:

o   the latest prevalent data and analysis

§  Crime survey England and Wales 2019

o   official agency data for 2019/20.

§  Child protection

§  Police recorded crime and outcomes

§  Prosecutions and convictions

§  Sexual Assault Referral Centres and sexual health clinics

§  Helpline’s: NSPCC, Stop It Now!, Internet Watch Foundation

·       Based on national population estimates in mid-2019:

o   15% of girls and 5% of boys experience child sexual abuse before the age of 16.

·       Key trends before COVID showed that there was an overall decline in the number of identified child sexual abuse cases across all data sets.

·       England saw the largest drop in child protection plans for sexual abuse over 20219/20 at 12%, the steepest decline in 18 years.

·       There was a small decline in child sexual abuses offences reported to the police, with fewer cases proceeding to court. Prosecutions had fallen by a third with offenses investigated by police falling from 37% (2015) to 20% (2019/20).

·       Despite a significant increase in the number of people reporting abuse, fewer offences were being prosecuted and convicted in 2019/20 compared to 2016/17.

·       Large disparity in how different areas named, recorded and dealt with child sexual across the agencies.

·       In order to better protect children, the gap between the number of children who have experienced sexual abuse and the smaller number who were identified and supported by agencies needs to be addressed.

Lisa then outlined the following three recommendations:

·       Carrying out a dedicated national survey of child sexual abuse.

·       Encouraging local and national agencies to improve data recording of all concerns of child sexual abuse.

·       Providing dedicated training giving professionals the confidence to recognise the signs and indicators of child sexual abuse.

Following the discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Members commented that some people were not able to identify child sexual exploitation and some schools were not identifying it at all. What could councillors do to ensure schools in their local authorities were supported, as the Ofsted inspection framework considered safeguarding within inspections and impacted on schools’ ratings. Lisa responded that people not being able to identify harm was important and one of the reasons why the CSA Centre would like to conduct a prevalent study. Kairika added that more work needed to be done in schools to up-skill teachers and to understand what the barriers are for children and young people to talk about sexual abuse. Ian also added that they had met with Ofsted and shared their insights and subsequently had been approached by the What Works centre for Children's Social Care, to help undertake work to help match supervising social workers to designated safeguarding leads in schools.

·       Members raised that it was vital to understand how to address and speak to people who have experienced child sexual exploitation. Lisa replied that there was training for teachers, particularly for child sexual exploitation but there was no training provided for schools and teachers on the broader understanding of child sexual abuse and where it may take place. Lisa also mentioned that schools have an opportunity on how they embed relationship and sexual education, setting expectations and how to interact and treat each other.

·       Members highlighted child sexual abuse between child on child, particularly online to be considered in the report. Lisa responded that the report showed that there was limited information around online harm and it would be taken into account once data was available.

The chair thanked Ian, Lisa and Kairika for attending the Board meeting and sharing their insightful presentation.

Decision:

Members of the Children and Young People Board noted the report and the presentation.