A progress report providing the Committee with an update on Child Exploitation and Children who go Missing.

The Director of Children’s Services, Brighter Futures for Children, submitted a report providing the Committee with a progress report on Child Exploitation and Children who go missing.  A copy of the Child Exploitation and Missing Children Action Plan 2019-2020 was appended to the report.

The report explained that in summer 2018 the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Missing Strategic Sub-Group had agreed to expand its scrutiny and oversight to Child Exploitation, incorporating Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), this was in response to emerging need both locally and nationally.  The Pan Berkshire CSE Leads meeting also expanded its remit to become the Pan Berkshire Exploitation Leads Sub-Group and in June 2018 had ratified four strategic priority areas: prevention, protection, pursue and disrupt and recovery.  The Exploitation and Missing Risk Assessment Conference (EMRAC) had been launched in September 2018 and would take place monthly and the Missing Evaluation and Review Group was a weekly Sub-Group of EMRAC and was a multi-agency panel.  There was also a Disruption meeting led by Thames Valley Police that considered all exploitation and related intelligence and coordinated all disruption activity.  Thames Valley Police and Early Help officers were leading the initiative on Adverse Childhood Experiences and moving the authority towards being a Trauma Informed authority.

Two new Berkshire LSCB Child Exploitation tools had been developed and implemented: Simple Screening Tool and Child Exploitation Risk Indicator and Analysis Tool and in August 2018 a Child Exploitation Manager post had been created.  In November 2018 there had been a re-launch of the CSE champions group to become Exploitation Champions with the aim of sharing good practice, resources and innovation and support the cascading of messages and information.

Performance data and narrative were reported on a monthly basis to the Children’s Services Improvement Board and quarterly to LSCB and the Missing Coordinator produced a quarterly Missing Profile which included all data that related to missing episodes, missing children and return interviews.  The report included a table that detailed the ‘children and young people that go missing from home or care’ for October to December 2018 and a table setting out the training and awareness events that had been held in 2018-2019.

Resolved –    That the report be noted.