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1142005

	registered interest
	date	25/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Children: Exploitation, what steps his Department has taken to communicate to local authorities the updates made in September 2018 to the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance; and what funding has been provided from the public purse to train those delivering associated services to implement that guidance.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	282356
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability on 15 July 2019, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ was published in July 2018. The working together to safeguard children guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2</a>.</p><p>In September 2018, the Home Office published updated guidance 'Criminal Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: County Lines guidance'. This guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-exploitation-of-children-and-vulnerable-adults-county-lines" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-exploitation-of-children-and-vulnerable-adults-county-lines</a>.</p><p>Both pieces of guidance were published on the GOV.UK website and to support this, were promoted to local authorities through a variety of channels including:</p><ul><li>English local authority communications team;</li><li>Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) e-bulletin to local authority CEOs;</li><li>The Society of Local Authorities’ Chief Executives bulletin;</li><li>The Association of Directors of Children’s Services bulletin;</li><li>The Association of Directors of Adults Social Services;</li><li>The National Association of Head Teachers website;</li><li>The Association of School and College Leaders website; and</li><li>NHS England.</li></ul><p>The updated county lines guidance was also shared with police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners to share with their local stakeholders. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children' was also shared with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and other key organisations including:</p><ul><li>The Local Government Association;</li><li>The Association of Independent Local Safeguarding Children Board Chairs;</li><li>The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health,</li><li>The Royal College of Nursing;</li><li>Barnardo’s;</li><li>The National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children; and</li><li>Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary of Fire and Rescue Services.</li></ul><p>Funding for children’s services sits with local authorities as part of their main un-ringfenced budgets, so they have the flexibility to decide how to spend it to best meet local needs, including on any training arrangements for professionals working to safeguard children and young people. This funding is allocated through MHCLG's annual Local Government Funding Settlement.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch question first answered 04/09/2019 08:39:38 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1142003

	registered interest
	date	25/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the Children’s Society report entitled Counting lives, published in July 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	282355
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2019 answer text <p>Criminal exploitation in the form of county lines has a devastating impact on those affected and we must work together to identify and safeguard the victims and potential victims of this form of exploitation as early as possible.</p><p>Our Serious Violence Strategy sets out our approach to tackling county lines and its related exploitation and through this we have delivered a range of action to enhance our approach to tackling this issue.</p><p>This includes providing £3.6m for a new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. Launched in September 2018 the NCLCC has already led three separate weeks of law enforcement ‘intensification’ leading to 1600 arrests and safeguarding of over 2100 individuals. Through the Early Intervention Youth Fund we are also funding 10 projects with a specific county lines focus to support victims and potential victims of this exploitation. We have also worked to increase awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it and have published guidance for frontline professionals on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes.</p><p>We welcome the report published by the Children’s Society and will consider its findings carefully as we continue to develop and strengthen our response to county lines.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 06/09/2019 13:37:32 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141449

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Child Exploitation, if his Department will take steps to ensure that (a) local authorities and (b) police forces collect data on children at risk of criminal exploitation within their areas.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281117
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by the former Home Secretary (Sajid Javid), my right hon. Friend, the Member for Bromsgrove, on 15 July, the statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children (2018)’ sets out how the 3 safeguarding partners – the police, Clinical Commissioning Groups and the local authority - should have a clear understanding of the collective needs of children locally when commissioning effective services. These collective needs include the risks of criminal exploitation that are faced by children. In addition, the local authority is under a duty to monitor and report on serious child safeguarding incidents to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.</p><p> </p><p>The safeguarding partners must publish an annual report setting out what they have done as a result of the arrangements, including how effective these arrangements have been in practice. They must also include how they will use data and intelligence to assess the effectiveness of the help being provided to children and families as well as the procedures and processes for cases relating to the abuse, neglect and exploitation of children, including in relation to child criminal exploitation.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the department’s annual ‘Children in Need’ census, local authorities are also required to report to the department on the factors identified at the end of the assessment of children, including trafficking, missing children, gangs and child sexual exploitation, all of which may be related to the risk of child criminal exploitation.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office have provided £3.6 million for the establishment of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to enhance the intelligence picture and support cross-border efforts to tackle county lines. The NCLCC supports operational policing as well as providing a central point at which intelligence and information is shared and the links with criminal exploitation and illegal drugs markets are identified.</p><p> </p><p>In November 2018, the Director General of the National Crime Agency formally tasked all Chief Constables to direct all forces to implement a more consistent and prioritised intelligence and operational response, in respect of county lines drugs supply, to include the submission of intelligence to the NCLCC and a prioritised response to high-risk lines and gangs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch grouped question UIN 281056 question first answered 02/08/2019 12:44:18 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch previous answer version 131826 answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141448

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Child Exploitation, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing a contextual safeguarding framework to be used alongside other safeguarding models within the child protection system in order to better identify and support children being exploited.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281116
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by my hon. Friend, the Member for Louth and Horncastle on 15 July 2019, the statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children 2018’, is very clear that anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local authority children’s social care. This should be done immediately, if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so. This guidance can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2</a>.</p><p> </p><p>That same guidance also sets out that assessments, including early help assessments, should look at the nature and level of risk faced by a child, and whether the risk is from within or external to the family. In response, local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early.</p><p> </p><p>A number of our best performing local authorities, known as Partners in Practice, are testing different approaches to how best to assess and support children who are at risk of abuse from extra familial threats. This includes funding up to £2 million for the London Borough of Hackney to test a contextual safeguarding approach through the Innovation Programme. The project is being externally evaluated and we expect the final report in September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The department is also funding the ‘Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme’ to provide evidence-based expertise, advice and practical support to safeguarding partners in local areas to develop an effective multi agency response to extra-familial harms, such as child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, and gang and drug involvement that exploit vulnerable children.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch grouped question UIN 281060 281061 question first answered 02/08/2019 12:22:15 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch previous answer version 131825 answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141340

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the need for a contextual safeguarding framework to be used alongside other safeguarding models within the child protection system in order to more effectively identify and support children who are being exploited.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281061
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by my hon. Friend, the Member for Louth and Horncastle on 15 July 2019, the statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children 2018’, is very clear that anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local authority children’s social care. This should be done immediately, if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so. This guidance can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2</a>.</p><p> </p><p>That same guidance also sets out that assessments, including early help assessments, should look at the nature and level of risk faced by a child, and whether the risk is from within or external to the family. In response, local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early.</p><p> </p><p>A number of our best performing local authorities, known as Partners in Practice, are testing different approaches to how best to assess and support children who are at risk of abuse from extra familial threats. This includes funding up to £2 million for the London Borough of Hackney to test a contextual safeguarding approach through the Innovation Programme. The project is being externally evaluated and we expect the final report in September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The department is also funding the ‘Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme’ to provide evidence-based expertise, advice and practical support to safeguarding partners in local areas to develop an effective multi agency response to extra-familial harms, such as child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, and gang and drug involvement that exploit vulnerable children.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch grouped question UIN 281060 281116 question first answered 02/08/2019 12:22:15 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch previous answer version 131823 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141338

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Child Exploitation, what plans his Department has to ensure that services can safeguard children at the earliest opportunity.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281060
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by my hon. Friend, the Member for Louth and Horncastle on 15 July 2019, the statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children 2018’, is very clear that anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local authority children’s social care. This should be done immediately, if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so. This guidance can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2</a>.</p><p> </p><p>That same guidance also sets out that assessments, including early help assessments, should look at the nature and level of risk faced by a child, and whether the risk is from within or external to the family. In response, local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early.</p><p> </p><p>A number of our best performing local authorities, known as Partners in Practice, are testing different approaches to how best to assess and support children who are at risk of abuse from extra familial threats. This includes funding up to £2 million for the London Borough of Hackney to test a contextual safeguarding approach through the Innovation Programme. The project is being externally evaluated and we expect the final report in September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The department is also funding the ‘Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme’ to provide evidence-based expertise, advice and practical support to safeguarding partners in local areas to develop an effective multi agency response to extra-familial harms, such as child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, and gang and drug involvement that exploit vulnerable children.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch grouped question UIN 281061 281116 question first answered 02/08/2019 12:22:15 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch previous answer version 131196 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141324

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Child Exploitation, what plans his Department has to ensure that local authorities monitor the risk of criminal exploitation to children within their area.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Further to the answer provided by the former Home Secretary (Sajid Javid), my right hon. Friend, the Member for Bromsgrove, on 15 July, the statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children (2018)’ sets out how the 3 safeguarding partners – the police, Clinical Commissioning Groups and the local authority - should have a clear understanding of the collective needs of children locally when commissioning effective services. These collective needs include the risks of criminal exploitation that are faced by children. In addition, the local authority is under a duty to monitor and report on serious child safeguarding incidents to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.</p><p> </p><p>The safeguarding partners must publish an annual report setting out what they have done as a result of the arrangements, including how effective these arrangements have been in practice. They must also include how they will use data and intelligence to assess the effectiveness of the help being provided to children and families as well as the procedures and processes for cases relating to the abuse, neglect and exploitation of children, including in relation to child criminal exploitation.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the department’s annual ‘Children in Need’ census, local authorities are also required to report to the department on the factors identified at the end of the assessment of children, including trafficking, missing children, gangs and child sexual exploitation, all of which may be related to the risk of child criminal exploitation.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office have provided £3.6 million for the establishment of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NCLCC) to enhance the intelligence picture and support cross-border efforts to tackle county lines. The NCLCC supports operational policing as well as providing a central point at which intelligence and information is shared and the links with criminal exploitation and illegal drugs markets are identified.</p><p> </p><p>In November 2018, the Director General of the National Crime Agency formally tasked all Chief Constables to direct all forces to implement a more consistent and prioritised intelligence and operational response, in respect of county lines drugs supply, to include the submission of intelligence to the NCLCC and a prioritised response to high-risk lines and gangs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch grouped question UIN 281117 question first answered 02/08/2019 12:44:18 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1141311

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To Ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 273801 on Child Exploitation, how many children-in-need assessments were undertaken in which criminal exploitation through county lines was identified as a potential risk to the child’s life in each year since 2015.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	281047
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/08/2019 answer text <p>Regarding the number of children in need assessments undertaken in which criminal exploitation through county lines was identified as a potential risk to the child’s life, the information requested is not held centrally.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the Children in Need census, we collect factors identified at the end of the assessment. These factors include trafficking, gangs and child sexual exploitation. However, this information gives no specific indication of county lines involvement or a risk to the child’s life. The information in fact indicates that the child has been referred and assessed by the local authority and that these issues were a factor at the end of assessment.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the number of factors identified at the end of assessment, including trafficking, gangs and child sexual exploitation, is published in table C3 of the ‘Characteristics of children in need’ statistical release, which can be viewed at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-children-in-need" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-children-in-need</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch question first answered 02/08/2019 13:03:36 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch previous answer version 131235 answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1137224

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to create a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	273802
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 considered the definition of exploitation under the Act and found it is sufficiently flexible to meet a range of new and emerging forms of modern slavery.</p><p>The Government welcomes this finding and continues to work with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to take full advantage of powers in the Modern Slavery Act. We note that there have been recent prosecutions under the Modern Slavery Act for cases of child criminal exploitation. The Government Response to the Independent Review was published on 9 July and is available here: <br><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act</a></p><p><br>In addition, there is an existing, published definition of child criminal exploitation in the Serious Violence Strategy. The strategy is available here:<br><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/698009/serious-violence-strategy.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/698009/serious-violence-strategy.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 15/07/2019 11:21:36 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1137223

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Children: Exploitation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to issue national guidance to local authorities on tackling child criminal exploitation through county lines.
	tabling member constituency	Croydon North
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Reed
	uin	273801
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>In July 2018 the Government published statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance is intended for and should be read and followed by frontline practitioners and strategic leaders in local authorities, together with other organisations and agencies that commission and provide services for children and families. The guidance specifically highlights the risk to children from exploitation by criminal gangs and organised crime groups such as county lines. It also makes clear that children who may be alleged perpetrators should also be assessed to understand the impact of contextual issues on their safety and welfare.</p><p>The Government is committed to increasing awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it and published guidance for frontline professionals in July 2017, which was reviewed and updated in September 2018, on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 15/07/2019 11:12:55 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed