Issue - meetings

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools, John Matravers, Head of Service for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance, and Nicole Harris, Head of Service for Fieldwork Services presented the report on the actions taken by Nottingham City Council (NCC) and its partners in identifying, safeguarding and supporting children who have gone missing from home and are at risk of exploitation. They highlighted the following information:

a)  exploitation is a form of child abuse which involves coercion and deception to get children to do things that they do not want to do. Examples include sexual, criminal and financial exploitation. Children can be exploited to be involved in criminal activities such as modern slavery and county lines. Multiple types of exploitation can occur alongside one another or as part of other forms of abuse;

b)  one of the key tasks of Children’s Integrated Services Team is to train staff at the Council and partner organisations to identify and respond to child exploitation;

c)  the use of language is an effective tool in raising awareness of child exploitation, for example, the legal definition of ‘children’ is anyone under the age of 18, so even if a 15 or 16 year old consider themselves a young person, they are classed as ‘children’;

d)  the methods used by perpetrators to draw children into exploitation involve not just tangible things such as giving them money, alcohol or drugs, but appealing to a child’s emotions through giving them status, attention and love. They then use these to indebt the child and keep them under their control;

e)  perpetrator groups and individuals can be hard to track down as they tend to move around the country;

f)  children who are being exploited are more likely to be arrested and criminalised than the abusers;

g)  local protocols and national statutory guidance are used by Children’s Integrated Services when a child goes missing from home or care;

h)  officers examine the factors about what has kept them away from home and what has attracted them to leave home;

i)  the 2022 Ofsted inspection into the Council’s Children’s Integrated Services identified improvements needed to the timeliness and effectiveness of Return Home Interviews. The Missing Children’s Team has increased resources since January 2023 with the recruitment of a Team Manager in addition to the existing two Children’s Workers. Recruitment to two more Children’s Worker posts is underway to double the capacity of the team. These workers will be in place by April 2023;

j)  safety planning takes place for children after they have received their Return Home Interview;

k)  a multi-agency response is required when identifying and protecting children from exploitation. Partners include other Local Authority Children’s Services, education institutions, the police, community groups and the voluntary sector;

l)  once perpetrators have been identified, it is important to hold them to account;

m)  all referrals go through the MASH team. The staff within MASH gather information and evidence from the children, their families and partner agencies. The outcome  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39