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Institutional failures over child sex abuse revealed

Children are at risk of sex abuse because of failures by councils and other agencies to get a grip on the problem, a damning new report has found.

A new study by Ofsted has highlighted poor information sharing among agencies, poor planning, and leadership which was ‘frequently lacking’, while saying councils do not have an ‘accurate picture of the full extent of child sexual exploitation. As a result they cannot know whether they are making a positive difference.’

Some professionals ‘have simply failed to properly apply child protection processes to young people’, and while some councils ‘have adopted a zero tolerance approach to child sexual exploitation and are making full use of ….the powers available to them to disrupt [it], most are not.’

Over 1,000 children under six are sexually exploited each year, according to an NSPCC FOI of police figures.

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