Rotherham vows to 'never be complacent' about child safety

A SENIOR child safety investigator has said that Rotherham will ‘never be complacent’ about the threat of harm to its young people – 10 years after a damning report found that 1,400 children were sexually exploited from 1997 to 2013.

It comes as Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which was critisised in 2014 for failing to address the ‘seriousness and scale’ of grooming, has laid out its strategy to protect youngsters, to be enacted over the next five years.

The strategy sets out how the council, police and other organisations will keep children and young people safe from child exploitation.

This includes identifying potential victims early and intervening, ensuring ‘robust’ safeguarding systems are in place, and continuing support for survivors.

Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the publication of the Jay Report, Darren Downs, Independent Scrutineer for the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, said: “Our journey has been highly publicised and rightly scrutinised. We will never be complacent about the threat of harm to local children.

“The partnership will continue to do all that we can to support the victims of child exploitation, whilst ensuring that offenders are brought to justice. The new strategy defines the roles and responsibilities of key partner agencies and how we will work together to deliver key priorities.”

As of November 2023, National Crime Agency officers have made more than 200 arrests and secured 34 convictions as part of Operation Stovewood, which aims to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of CSE.

Those convicted have been handed prison sentences totalling around 260 years, and there are currently 50 active investigations underway.

Councillor Victoria Cusworth, cabinet member for children and young people at Rotherham council, said: “Over the last 10 years, we have been committed to listening to the voice and lived experience of victims and survivors in order to drive improvements in services.

“We have made significant strides forward in the way that we tackle child exploitation in Rotherham and the council’s children’s services have been graded as “Good” consistently by Ofsted since 2017. We will continue to build on this work alongside partners, and in delivering the priorities set out in this strategy.”

Detective chief superintendent Laura Koscikiewicz, district commander for Rotherham said: “The Jay Report was a watershed moment for policing. Since then, we have worked tirelessly to deepen our understanding and share that knowledge to tackle exploitation in all its forms. This was recognised by the policing inspectorate as ‘outstanding’. That said, we recognise this type of offending is ever evolving and we must keep pace to ensure we protect children. This strategy sets out exactly how we will do that.”

Chris Edwards, director for Rotherham at NHS South Yorkshire, said: “Over the last 10 years the NHS in Rotherham has worked closely with Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police to make sure we have robust arrangements in place to safeguard our children, and to support victims of exploitation.”

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)