MSPs call on Scottish Government to develop national strategy for tackling child sex exploitation

THE Public Petitions Committee called for new research into the nature and scope of child sex exploitation in Scotland and new Government guideline for dealing with it.

>> The inquiry called for a national strategy for tackling child sex exploitation
SCOTLAND needs a national strategy for tackling child sexual exploitation, according to a Holyrood committee.

An inquiry by the Public Petitions Committee found that at times there can be a "piecemeal approach" to the issue, with a lack of co-ordination among groups and organisations working in this area.

It also found that further research is needed to reveal the full extent of child sexual exploitation.

The committee's inquiry was launched following a petition from charity Barnardo's Scotland, calling for new research into the nature and scope of the problem in Scotland and new Scottish Government guidelines for dealing with it.

Further recommendations from the committee include establishing refuges for young victims across the country and establishing education programmes in schools.

It has also suggested mandatory training for frontline and specialist police officers on the legislative options available to them to disrupt the perpetrators of exploitation.

Committee convener David Stewart MSP said: "During the course of this inquiry our committee has heard some difficult, and at times challenging, evidence about child sexual exploitation in Scotland.

"We received powerful first-hand accounts which were anonymised and included in full in our report.

"The committee recognises that although there is a lot of positive work being done, it can be piecemeal. It lacks the clear leadership and co-ordination needed to tackle effectively the sexual exploitation of our children.

"There is also the very real danger that child sexual exploitation will continue to be a hidden problem in Scotland, which is why further research must be carried out to establish the scale of the problem and how best to shape services to address it."

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Less than 10 per cent of child sex offences result in conviction by Joe Lepper

Around 400 sexual offences against children are reported to police each week but less than one in ten result in a conviction, according to figures obtained by the NSPCC.

>> A fifth of reported child sexual offences were against children aged under 11. Image: Phil Adams

The children’s charity gathered statistics related to sex crimes from all 43 English and Welsh police forces and found one in three were committed against children.

Of the 23,097 child victims of reported sexual offences recorded during 2010/11, a fifth were under 11 and 1,500 were five or younger. The majority of child victims (19,790) were girls.

The figures show 426 child victims had previously been victims of reported sexual offences, but these figures are likely to be much higher as only a third of forces were able to supply this information.

This is the fourth year that the NSPCC has collected figures on sexual offences against children. Over that time the number of convictions has risen by a quarter but the number of reported offences has remained at a similar level.

Jon Brown, head of the NSPCC’s sexual abuse programme, called for more detailed research into the low level of convictions among reported perpetrators of sexual offences against children.

He said: "The police are doing their best to bring prosecutions but we need to understand why there is such a huge disparity between the two figures. The fact there are repeat offences against some of the children also shows not all are just one-off incidents."

He added that the NSPCC is using information and statistics from the police to tailor its treatment services to children of different ages.

But said: "We can’t tackle this problem by ourselves. It requires a major effort from government and the public to give children the protection they need and to provide more therapeutic programmes so the young victims of abuse can start to rebuild their lives."