Many recommendations for Bradford Council to tackle child sexual exploitation will not be met
A 6 month deadline was set to reach all 20 recommendations by December 2021
Last updated 25th Nov 2021
The independent chair of the Bradford partnership board has told us many of the 20 recommendations set out in June for the council to tackle child sexual exploitation will not be met by the deadline of December 2021.
What is the report?
The report published this summer looked at the issue across the Bradford District over the last 20 years.
It was commissioned after the sentencing of 9 men in 2019 to a total of 132 years' and 8 months' imprisonment following the abuse of a child who had been in the care of Bradford Council.
At the time, authorities in Bradford issued an 'apology' saying they had 'failed' to protect the children.
Jane Booth, the independent chair of the Bradford partnership board said:
"I insisted that we didn't put a deadline that went pass to December 2021, there's some that will exceed that date.
"It seemed to me that these were things people should be focusing on, and really 6 months from June until December, we ought to be able to see a lot of progress. I did a review last week, we were able to sign off some things, but a lot haven't yet reached their sell by date.
"Some will exceed, but it will be for justified reasons."
She said if you break down the 20 recommendations, it works out at around 53 things to the council needs to do.
What does the picture look like now?
We can exclusively reveal that this year alone more than 70 meetings were held for children in Bradford Council’s care for sexual abuse reports.
There are more than 30 children at present that the council has concerns about around sexual exploitation.
Jane Booth continued:
"When you ask me, is it too many, too few, there isn't a simple answer to that. We need to be realistic, it's a dreadful crime, but we are not going to wipe it out, as we become more sophisticated at identifying people, they become more sophisticated."