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<p>It is difficult to measure the number of children at risk of child sexual exploitation
with confidence because methodologies vary and because most child sexual abuse remains
unreported.</p><p>In its report, Measuring the Scale and Changing Nature of Child
Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Exploitation, published in August 2018, the Centre of Expertise
on Child Sexual Abuse refers to several studies which have sought to assess the number
of children at risk of sexual exploitation in England using different methodologies
and data sources. These include a survey of 100 local authorities in 2016 which identified
13,466 children at risk, and a study by the Office of the Children's Commissioner
in 2012 which estimated 16,500 children to be at risk.</p><p>The Department for Education
published statistics on “Characteristics of children in need: 2017/18: England” on
25 October 2018. These show nearly 20,000 assessments carried out by children’s services
where child sexual exploitation was identified as being a factor that contributed
to the child being in need. However, these figures count numbers of assessments, not
number of children, so if a child has more than one assessment where child sexual
exploitation is identified as a factor then they will be counted more than once in
these figures.</p>
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