Police Told To Do Better On Child Protection

West Yorkshire Police are facing criticism over how they deal with Child Protection issues. A government inspection has found that the response to child sexual explotation cases here was inconsistent. The HMIC report also raised concerns about children being unnecessarily detained in police custody overnight.

Inspectors were pleased to find:

• A clear commitment to improving child protection services

• Staff responsible for managing child abuse investigations were knowledgeable, committed and dedicated to providing the best outcomes for the child

• Officers responded quickly to clear and specific concerns about the immediate safety of children

• Good relationships with partner agencies and local safeguarding children boards.

However, inspectors were concerned to find:

• In difficult, complex or prolonged cases the response was often weak, with delays in investigations

• The response to child sexual exploitation was inconsistent across the force area

• Poor recording on police systems

• Children were being unnecessarily detained in police custody overnight

• A lack of a force-wide understanding of the demand generated by child protection issues.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said, "West Yorkshire police is clearly committed to improving child protection services and its staff are dedicated and knowledgeable individuals, working to provide the best outcomes for the children of West Yorkshire.

"However there is more work to be done, particularly on the more difficult cases, to ensure that delays are reduced wherever possible and that instances of children being unnecessarily detained in police custody overnight are tackled.

"I encourage West Yorkshire Police to act on our recommendations as a matter of urgency, and have asked that within six weeks it provides us with an action plan to demonstrate how it will take forward these recommendations."

West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Burns Williamson has issued a statement saying that more money is being made available in order to improve standards, "Protecting our children is of vital importance as I have made absolutely clear in the Police and Crime Plan and have discussed regularly with the Chief Constable.

"All agencies have a responsibility to work together to safeguard children and an action plan has been developed following a series of meetings I initiated with West Yorkshire Police and partners to identify what more needs to be done collectively with partners.

"Last February I made an extra £3.5million available to the police for increased capacity to deal with CSE, Human Trafficking and Cyber Crime.

"Recently, £1.5million of that money paid for up to 30 specialist investigators to progress enquiries in the growing number of reported offences. This is all around strengthening our safeguarding response in West Yorkshire.

"On the back of the Rotherham report published in September, I called an urgent meeting with all the safeguarding experts from across West Yorkshire to ensure we are sharing best practice and see what can be done better in West Yorkshire.

"I have made an additional £467,000 commitment to initiate further work to address CSE which aims to increase awareness in schools and to offer more support to victims including the creation of the Help for Victims website at www.helpforvictims.co.uk.

"The money will also fund the creation of a Safeguarding Advisor post to co-ordinate the work that all safeguarding experts are doing to ensure we are all working collectively and consistently to protect children across the county.

"It is important to note that the HIMC report was completed last August and a number of positives were identified in the report such as cases where frontline officers demonstrated good awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and took decisive action to protect children from harm.

"However, there were also serious concerns identified by HMIC including West Yorkshire Police devolving responsibility to the five districts resulting in inconsistent practice and concerns about the consistency of CSE investigations.

"I will be seeking an immediate update from the Temporary Chief Constable to make sure the force has implemented all the recommendations included in the report and the progress made on implementing the action plan as agreed by partners.

"This area of work would benefit from a joint inspection on safeguarding which is inherently a partnership responsibility and I have previously raised this with HMIC.

"Here in West Yorkshire, we are working better together to ensure safeguarding vulnerable children remains a top priority for police and partners and that we are doing everything we can to protect our children from harm.

"The risks and demands that are placed on the police and our safeguarding partners are significantly increasing at a time when the government is making severe cuts to all of our budgets. The police budget alone in West Yorkshire Police will have been reduced by £163.5million by 2016//17."