Tackling the challenge of Child Sexual Exploitation in London
Self Audit Template – Oct/ Nov 2014
In light of Ofsted’s thematic inspection of Child Sexual Exploitation, the
London Safeguarding Children Board and the Association of London Directors
of Children’s Services are asking all London authorities to review their
practice, in relation to CSE, against Ofsted’s guidance.
This self-audit tool has been developed for the boroughs of Hackney, Barking
and Dagenham and Newham. Self-audits will be completed by each borough
and should be submitted to Tara Bajracharya, Safeguarding and Learning
Advisor at tara.bajracharya@hackney.gov.uk by the 19th November 2014. The
self-audits will then be circulated ahead of a challenge meeting on the 28th
November 2014
Local Authority:
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Completed by:
Jenny Bastock in consultation with MASE & LSCB
Date of completion: 12/11/14
1. Identification of children and young people at risk of and experiencing
CSE:
How do children and young people at risk of, or who have been, sexually
exploited (both girls and boys) come to notice?
How effective is the local authority and its partners in ensuring that all children
and young people at risk of CSE are identified at the earliest opportunity?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
1. How do children and young people at risk of, or who have been,
sexually exploited (both girls and boys) come to notice?
All referrals are received via a Multi Agency Referral Form (MARF), Merlin or
other contact with Children's Services.
The Social Worker or Duty worker will identify possible risk factors associated
with CSE and this would be flagged to the CSE Co-ordinator via email, and
the Police Officer in MASH, who is the Single Point of Contact for CSE. This is
to ensure that a CSE CRIS is created for the young person immediately. The
CRIS is a Crime report specific to CSE which remains on the child’s record for
life as being vulnerable to or at risk of CSE, should come to the attention of
the Police.
The majority of CSE cases have been received via a MARF, with a number of
contacts being received from the child or young persons existing Social
Worker or YOS key worker.
One referral via a MARF was from a housing officer, concerned about a
homeless 17 year old who had been sleeping in the office of a taxi company.
They referred this to Children's Services due to concerns around CSE. We
have also received two referrals from the Teenage Pregnancy Midwives,
concerned about a teen parent being in a relationship with boyfriends much
older than them.
YOS: Where Young People have disclosed elements of CSE to their YOS
worker, they raise this as a potential CSE case and we look at what support is
required and what the actions are in terms of CSE Strategy meeting and
placing the case on the CSE MAP agenda
2. How effective is the local authority and its partners in ensuring
that all children and young people at risk of CSE are identified at
the earliest opportunity?
Training & Briefings
CSE Briefings: On 7th & 8th December there will be CSE Briefings facilitated
by the Met Police. There have been six briefings held so far that have been
well attended by between 30-80 practitioners across Social Care, Health,
Education, YOS, Targeted Support services, Probation and Police.
A separate briefing was held for PCSO’s in the borough focusing on the ‘Say
Something if you See Something’ campaign which was launched in November
to coincide with the White Ribbon campaign. This campaign will raise
awareness of CSE amongst hotels, motels and taxi companies in the
borough. This is being launched jointly with LB Havering and LB Redbridge.
Education & Youth Services:
PSHE Conference 16th Nov 2014:
A Conference for PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education) Leads in the
borough took place on 16th Nov 2014 to look at ways in which themes around
Healthy Relationships can be incorporated into the PSHE curriculum.
This conference was also attended by staff from the Pupil Referral units and
Education CP leads.
The areas of discussion were:
 the impact of domestic violence on children and young people
 Promoting awareness of risk of CSE and through social media.
 Awareness of Female Genital Mutilation.
All three areas were explored in the context of how teaching staff can promote
awareness of Healthy Relationships in schools and to ensure that the children
and young people know where and how to access support.
Arc Theatre:
This theatre company are funded by MOPAC and focus their work toward
girls/ young women aged 11-18 years to learn about specific social issues and
to produce a short film which is shown to their peers to raise awareness. They
have successfully produced the Raising Voices film which is currently being
shown to Secondary schools and youth services in the borough. They have
also taken their film to other agencies such as National Working Group,
MOPAC, and other agencies.
Tier 2 Services- Targeted Family Support & Children's Centres
Very few referrals have been received or identified via tier 2 services but we
are in the process of revising the paperwork to ensure that CSE is considered
when any referrals are discussed at Tier 2. (The cases discussed at Tier 2 are
those referrals which do not meet threshold for a Statutory Assessment at
Triage/ MASH).
Staff from each of the service areas within Children's Services and YOS have
attended the CSE briefings, including Parenting Support workers within YOS
and the Family Support workers within the Children's Centres. We are looking
at how we can also integrate CSE awareness into the current Evidence Based
Parenting Programme we run in the borough.
The YOS Parenting team created and deliver a toolkit to parents; they seek
advice from the CSE co-ordinator if any concerns around CSE are raised.
Growing Against Gang Violence Foundation (GAGV):
This organisation is funded by Community Safety and Public Health and is
being introduced to schools throughout the borough. This is to raise
awareness of the risks around gang related violence and support available in
these situations.
LSCB Practitioner Forums: The forum is held once every 6 weeks by
representatives from Health, Education, Social Care, and Targeted Support
and is Chaired by the Quality Assurance Manager who sits within the
Safeguarding & Quality Assurance service.
Practitioners have an input in to the development of tools and protocols such
as the CSE Risk Assessment tool which has been adapted from the NWG
tool, to incorporate local LBBD information/ prompts.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
Arc Theatre:
A proposal for a second intake of girls to work with Arc Theatre has been
submitted, this ‘bridging project’ will enable the most vulnerable girls to access
Arc Theatre immediately and the opportunity for them to engage with their
peers. When Arc Theatre starts to accept referrals in February, the girls
supported by the bridging project would be in a position where they can
support the new members of the group.
CSE Co-ordinator recently started attending the Steering group at Arc Theatre
and identified the need for the Secondary schools to sign up to follow up
group work from the Nia Project when requesting Arc Theatre to perform. This
is to ensure that any young person who may have been affected by the
performance has access to appropriate support in a timely manner.
The Focus groups identified the following as ways we can improve in this
area:
 CSE Training to be Mandatory, the same way that Child Protection/
Safeguarding refresher training must be attended every 2 years.
 Young people in the borough will be involved in developing a factsheet
for parents and carers around the risks of CSE and what support is
available to support their children. A similar factsheet for young people
will also be developed and launched on the CSE Awareness week in
March 2015. The consultation groups who will develop these
factsheets will include:
- Children and young people who have attended the Children's
Domestic Violence programme
- LBBD Youth Forum
- Young peoples safety group
- Skittles children’s council which feeds into the Corporate Parenting
Board
- Arc Theatre
- Schools identified through the PSHE co-ordinators
The parent’s forums within the Children's Centres will also be given an
opportunity to get involved once the first draft has been completed and agreed
by the young people.
Tier 2 Services- Targeted Family Support & Children's Centres
The CSE Matrix which is a quick reference identification tool will be introduced
for each case to ensure that the worker is aware of the 9 indicators which
would be present in ‘high risk’ CSE cases, as in the Met Police CSE protocol.
This will ensure that the cases will be flagged up in a timely manner.
2. Management oversight/ strategic leadership:
What are the arrangements for the management and oversight of children and
young people at risk of, or who have been, sexually exploited?
Is there effective strategic leadership of the multi-agency response to CSE
that identifies prevalence, trends, themes and patterns and secures improved
outcomes for children and young people?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
What are the arrangements for the management and oversight of
children and young people at risk of, or who have been, sexually
exploited?
Currently, each C&YP who is identified as being at risk of or experiencing
CSE is presented to the CSE MAP meeting which is held once a month. As
soon as a case is identified, a meeting or discussion is arranged with the
Social Worker or referring professional, CSE Co-coordinator and Police officer
in MASH to ensure that the appropriate Police flags are noted and services
are in place to prevent delay in the C/YP accessing support.
Professionals from health, education and not for profit organisations attend
CSE MAP when children specific to their service are being discussed. This is
to ensure an effective multi agency safety plan is in place.
Any issues with cases that are seen to be drifting or where the professional
network involved is not communicating risks effectively are also raised at
MASE to ensure that any ‘blocks’ are managed effectively e.g. where
professional opinion may differ from one service to another or in one case or
where the young person need to be supported by a particular service which is
not represented at the CSE MAP meeting e.g. Health.
Re: C&YP Missing from home, Education or care
Interviews when a young person returns home are either undertaken by
Tracey Clarke, Participation officer or a worker from the Family Group
conference & Restorative Justice service. The outcomes of the interviews are
fed back to the Missing children’s strategic group to identify any patterns, e.g.
children in care missing from one specific placement.
Where a child or young person may go missing for a longer period (e.g. more
than 5 days),the Restorative Justice (RJ) Service would try to engage with the
family during this time to identify whether they are known to the service and to
look at their support needs. Once the child/ young person is identified, they
are allocated a RJ worker who would conduct the return home interview and
look at further support needs. Should the child/ young person go missing
again, the same RJ worker would be allocated, to ensure continuity.
Our Corporate Management team have an overview of the children reported
missing from Education, care or home; to ensure that appropriate measures
are taken to safeguard these young people.
Children in Care Placed out of borough
C&YP who are looked after but placed outside the borough who are reported
as missing from placement are reported to EDT who then alerts MASH. This
is to ensure that LBBD Police are made aware. This process was introduced
at the end of October as prior to this Children’s Services and the Police were
not always being made aware of LBBD children in a timely manner. This
change of practice identifies young people who may have experienced or be
at risk of CSE and patterns of missing episodes can be monitored by the
Sexual Exploitation team in the hosting Police force.
At present, we have one case where the young person has been identified as
being at risk of CSE who has been placed in a neighbouring borough. This
young person has been presented to the respective MASE and the CSE
SPOC and the child’s Social Worker, has ensured that this information is
communicated to LBBD CSE Co-ordinator
Is there effective strategic leadership of the multi-agency response to
CSE that identifies prevalence, trends, themes and patterns and secures
improved outcomes for children and young people?
LBBD are only 8 months into the protocol and it is too early to have developed
enough intelligence to map any trends. The Police are hoping to provide some
feedback through a Data Analyst in 2015 to look at these issues and to start
gathering data.
At each MASE meeting, the referrals to CSE MAP are reported back under
the following headings:
 Schools attended
 Age
 Ethnicity
 Referring agency
 Any repeat referrals/ cases
 YP linked to the C/YP being
referred
Just under half of our CSE referrals from May 2014 have been received from
2 secondary schools in the borough, this may indicate that CSE is occurring
more in these schools or provide an indication that the schools are able to
identify CSE vulnerabilities sooner.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
The CSE MAP process is being reviewed and we are considering the
following changes:
 For CSE MAP meeting to be run using the same structure as MARAC
 For a CSE Protocol to be written to reflect the need for strategy
meetings for CSE cases to be held with the CSE Co-ordinator and
Police officer in MASH to ensure that the C&YP are flagged in a timely
manner.
When a Data Analyst has started gathering and reporting back, we would
consider grading ourselves higher.
There is currently no Health representative to attend the CSE MAP meetings
but information from these meetings have been shared with appropriate
health professionals.
Further work to strengthen the relationship with health, especially Sexual
Health Services is planned. Representatives from the Sexual health services
do attend the MASE Strategic meeting and will also attend the CSE briefings
later this year.
3. Level of protection and support
What level of protection are children at risk of or experiencing, sexual
exploitation given and how does the LA work with a group who often shun
statutory services?
Are children and young people, including looked after children, who are at risk
of, or who have been, sexually exploited effectively safeguarded, protected
and supported?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
What level of protection are children at risk of or experiencing, sexual
exploitation given and how does the LA work with a group who often
shun statutory services?
Are children and young people, including looked after children, who are
at risk of, or who have been, sexually exploited effectively safeguarded,
protected and supported?
As above, each child or young person identified as being at risk of, or
experiencing CSE has a CSE CRIS created on their Police record which
ensures that they are prioritised if a call is logged e.g. if they went missing and
were seen. Young people who are considered to be hard to reach, are offered
support through statutory and non for profit services, this includes teen
parents, young carers..
In one particular case where the young person was extremely evasive of the
Social Worker, we introduced the Young Women’s worker from the Nia
Project and she has started to engage slowly. The Nia project worker is also
able to reinforce the role of the Social Worker and other professionals.
Each young person identified as being at risk of or experiencing CSE goes
through the MASH Process to ensure that information is obtained from all
agencies including Police. The Social worker is supported to access services
for the young person by the CSE Police officer based in MASH and the CSE
Co-ordinator to ensure that any updates are recorded and the young person is
supported accordingly.
For example, in one case where a young person was being sexually exploited
and went missing for 3 months was helped to move into supported
accommodation in the borough for vulnerable young people. The Social
Worker provided an update to the Police officer and CSE Co-ordinator so the
young person could be discussed through the CSE Strategy meeting and
CSE MAP process.
We have a grip on the number of cases referred and are able to review these
through the processes currently in place with information provided by all
agencies.
Young people identified through the CSE process can be referred to a range
of services such as the Hestia YP IDSVA, Daniel Project, Nia Project or Arc
Theatre. Young people have reported that they enjoy engaging with the Arc
Theatre and Daniel project as they are supported within their own peer group.
Where appropriate, the Arc Theatre will deliver their ‘Raising Voices’ film to an
audience within the young person’s wider network e.g. school or their youth
club to raise awareness and to encourage discussion.
Foster carers and supported lodgings carers for the over 16 year olds are also
the focus of training so that they are aware of the vulnerability factors around
CSE.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
The focus groups held with practitioners and managers identified the need for
processes to be more streamlined and for CSE to be an indicator on the
MARF and to be included in prompts on the Core Assessment template. The
CSE protocol should be formally launched so that all agencies in the borough
are aware of the steps to take if there are concerns around CSE and also
what support is available. There is a planned CSE Awareness event in March
2015.
4. Prosecution/ potential perpetrators:
What do you know about the levels of prosecution?
How effective is the local authority and its partners in identifying and
disrupting the activities of those perpetrators engaged in child sexual
exploitation and in taking legal action against them?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
The following information was provided by Police and the Youth Offending
Service:
Potential perpetrators - we are effective in communicating and identifying
potential perpetrators. The YOS and Police Officer in MASH share any
intelligence effectively. This information is also shared with the Gangs unit
and the Police officers based in YOS.
We are also effective in terms of supporting victims through the court/
prosecution process, which includes Victim Support and the Young Person
IDSVA.
Public Health has approved funding for an Analyst to scrutinise multi agency
data and statistics and to compose a ‘Problem Profile’ of CSE in the borough.
The Director of Public Health, Matthew Cole has confirmed that this support
will be in place by Christmas.
Interventions & Diversion: London Crime Prevention Funded projects via
community safety include the Arc Theatre but also the Daniel Project and the
YOS female offender’s intervention that recently won an award from the
Howard League. We have just sent 5 young female offenders off to ‘boot
camp’, which was very successful, most of which are at risk from or suffering
CSE.
Where some of the CSE cases are linked to gang’s in the borough, we have
49 young people currently living in LBBD:
2 in the Red, 20 in Amber and 27 in Green. (Statistics accurate as of 17th Nov
2014, Red- Amber and Green is reflective of the level of risk each poses)
We have 27 people in custody who have known associations with gangs, the
majority of which were placed there since the creation of the Gangs unit.
5 are red, 14 are Amber and 8 are Green.
We currently have 9 Judicial Orders in place which vary in intensity and
include the following:
 Gang enhanced prison release conditions
 Gang injunctions
 Gang CRASBO (ASBO with powers of arrest)
 ASBOs
One person is currently on bail for a gang related rape and is subject to a
Curfew. The Met Police have been liaising with Essex Police to ensure
information is shared.
There was a North East Gang cluster meeting on Thursday where
representatives from Essex Constabulary were present. It has been noted that
many of our known people have been frequenting our neighbouring borough
and counties to spread their empire. It is intended that closer partnership work
will now take place.
The crimes include drug dealing, using young females to commit theft
offences in and around London, sexual exploitation (although the young girls
at school are reluctant to substantiate any offences) and firearms offences.
Case example:
15 year old young person placed with a Foster Carer. He accessed support
from a LBGT Support group via Facebook as he had recently ‘come out’ as
being gay. He struggled to confide in his foster carer and professionals who
were there to support him.
Through information shared at the CSE MAP meetings, the case was
escalated from the Police Officer in MASH (Level 1 CSE case) to the Sexual
Exploitation team (SET, Level 2 CSE case). The 61 year old was served with
an Abduction order and was subsequently arrested. The young person also
claimed he was in a relationship with another member of the LBGT support
group who was 27 years of age.
Initially, the young person was moved to a placement out of borough, near
Leeds, his 27 year old partner went to Leeds and bought him back to the
borough. The young person was returned to his foster placement and work
commenced with the Health Youth Worker with a lead around LBGT issues
and the LAC Nurse.
Outcomes:
 The Facebook group was flagged up to CEOP.
 The 61 year old has since been refused bail due to offences towards a
child family member and offences again this young man are currently
being considered following disclosures of inappropriate touching and
rape.
 Specialist services recommended by Stonewall are being considered
for this young person so he is aware of the risk and can be supported
to reflect on his experiences.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
At present, there is a need for an analyst to become involved so we are able
to get a clear idea of patterns and trends. The Gangs unit will be continuously
updating the profiles of the gang nominal’s and will feedback any young
people who are identified as being at risk of CSE as necessary. CSE coordinator and Police officer will continue to meet regularly to identify young
people within an identified CSE case to ensure that young people are flagged
to police at the earliest opportunity.
An area for development is to look at how we as a Local Authority respond to
iyoung people who are potential perpetrators/ offenders as they would only be
discussed at MAPPA if over the age of 18. Measures need to be in place to
ensure that these young people are engaged with agencies who are able to
support and monitor them, and to ensure that their potential risk to others is
managed in a collaborative way.
5. Young people involved in or at risk of sexually harming others
What interventions and diversion strategies does the LA have in place for
young people identified as involved in or at risk of sexually harming others?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
Young people who are at risk of or have harmed others are often held with the
Youth Offending service. It would not be appropriate for their case to be
discussed at the CSE MAP, in the same forum as the victims. These cases
are often held with the YOS worker who is able to support them through the
criminal process, ensuring that any intelligence is passed onto police e.g. if
other victims are identified through this work. If there are young children within
the young person’s network, a referral is sent to Children's Services to ensure
that the parent or carer is able to protect them.
The YOS worker would be able to offer support around changing their
behaviours through the following prevention and disruption programmes:
 Girls group
 Step up programme
 Prison, me, no way
 Victim awareness
 Street crime and robbery awareness
 Parenting support team- delivery of Parenting programmes such as
Strengthening Families Strengthening communities, one to one
parenting support
 Offending behaviour awareness
 Ghost hairdressing academy for young women from the age of 16

where they are not able to access a mainstream college hairdressing
course due to their vulnerabilities.
One to one support
This list is not exhaustive
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
As above. A Protocol needs to be developed to ensure that those young
people who are at risk to others are managed in a structured way without
labelling the young person. One area of work that would need to be
considered is a risk assessment exercise which takes into consdiertation the
potential offenders social and family support network to look at how to
safeguard others.
6. Identification of trends:
What trends in terms of communities and gang links (or any other relevant
trends) are you identifying?
How well does the LA and partners identify trends?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
The statistics around referrals are presented at each Strategic MASE
meeting, to include:
 Number of referrals for that month
 Referring agency
 Outcomes e.g. Police CSE Level, and Social care interventions
 Ethnicity
 Any patterns in terms of schools the young people may attend or
connections within their own network.
As identified above, in question 5, an analyst will be appointed in December to
scrutinise statistics around CSE.
Through the CSE MAP it was possible to identify links between three young
people highlighted as at potential risk of CSE. It was established that there
were common factors within each case were, in part, as a result of
establishing that the young people were part of a friendship group. As a result
of this, a complex strategy meeting was held by children’s services to map out
risks to each young person and establish themes and trends which may help
to identify perpetrators.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1
2
3
4
5
Ineffective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
Highly effective
As in previous response, the need for an Analyst to undertake the Problem
Profile to specifically evaluate the extent of the issue around CSE in the
borough.
7. Multi-agency working/ information sharing:
Is awareness and reporting high for partners such as schools, NHS – acute,
GP, community services?
How effectively are partners sharing information and working together to
tackle CSE locally?
How are you sharing information across borough boundaries?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
Over 1,500 students have seen the ARC production across 6 schools in the
borough, 2 Youth Clubs and the Youth Forum. They are due to deliver the
production to a further 9 schools over the next 6 months.
The Say Something if you See Something Campaign is due to be rolled out to
all taxi companies and hotels in the borough. The aim of this is to raise
awareness of CSE amongst these services and to increase the number of
reports to police.
How effectively are partners sharing information and working together to
tackle CSE locally?
Information between agencies such as health, education, social care and
probation is shared when a case is identified through MASH, MAP and MASE.
At the monthly CSE MAP meetings, key agencies will share information when
formulating the CSE Safety plan.
How are you sharing information across borough boundaries?
Contact would be made with the CSE lead of the other boroughs for a
complex strategy meeting to be convened. This would also ensure that the
other borough and Police would monitor the young person through the MASE
and CSE MAP process if necessary, e.g. where the other borough is not
within the Metropolitan Police.
For example, one young person identified as being at risk of CSE has
identified 5 other young people, 3 of whom are known to LBBD but the other
two are known to other London boroughs. A complex strategy meeting has
been arranged with the Social Worker for each child, where they are
allocated, the CSE Co-ordinator, and other professionals/ key agencies. For
LBBD, a representative from Level 2 services/ Children's Services has been
invited to ensure that support can be provided through Youth Services and
family support if appropriate to the specific needs of the young people. Hestia,
IDSVA service and Nia project are also involved.
CSE Awareness day is on Weds 18th March 2015, and has been endorsed by
NWG – a proposal is being drafted for 5 days of CSE Awareness raising
activities throughout the borough. One of the activities will be the launch of the
NWG CSE eLearning module which will be open to all professionals’
especially foster carers and supported lodgings carers.
The LSCB Practitioner forums are held every 6 weeks and this forum
supports the development of services and protocols from an operational
perspective. For example, the CSE Risk Assessment available from the NWG
was amended to meet the needs of our borough, once this was drafted, it was
disseminated to all practitioners in the Practitioners forum for them to pilot it
within their service area and to feedback any changes that would be useful to
them, to make it more effective.
In preparation for preparing responses to this self assessment document, two
focus groups were held, one with managers and one with frontline
practitioners in order to gain their views of how we as a borough are
performing in the 10 different areas. The practitioners and managers involved
were from health, social care, education and the voluntary sector.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
The referral pathway has been signed off and circulated to all agencies but
the boroughs CSE Protocol is being drafted.
Delivery plan and proposal for CSE Awareness event in March to be
presented and signed off at next MASE meeting in December.
The general consensus amongst managers is that they would like to be
updated on a quarterly or monthly basis around the level of CSE referrals and
the referring agency. This is something that is being explored and would help
to identify where further awareness raising activities need to be targeted e.g.
particular schools if no referrals have been received.
8. The Local Safeguarding Children Board:
To what extent is the LSCB complying with the statutory guidance set out in
‘Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation’?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
LSCB Conference 2014 focused on CSE and was well attended by a range of
practitioners.
6 LSCB Briefings around the CSE Met Police Protocol have been held with a
further 3 planned. All briefings have been well attended by professionals from
health, social care, education and the voluntary sector. The briefings were
facilitated by a CSE Trainer from the Police.
CSE Awareness day on Weds 18th March 2015, as endorsed by NWG – a
proposal is being drafted for 5 days of CSE Awareness raising activities
throughout the borough. Materials available through the NWG website/
members portal will be made available to the LSCB e.g. eLearning module
which will also be incorporated into the Social Care Training Programme and
the foster carers training programme.
LSCB Practitioners forum, as in Q1
Representatives from each team/ service area have been identified to
become CSE Champions, where they will be expected to disseminate
information to their teams and feedback what support/ training their teams
may require. They will also be expected to advise the CSE CO-ordinator what
their agency will be able to do for the CSE Awareness campaign.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
Analysis of the rate and extent of CSE is not fed into the LSCB for further
scrutiny & challenge by the Board.
9. Quality assurance:
Is practice robustly quality assured and is there evidence that this leads to
better services for children and young people?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
The Performance & QA Committee of the LSCB identifies and commissions
multi-agency audits. Audits are undertaken by representatives of partner
agencies and outcomes are reported to the Board. The multi agency audit group
(MAAG) will focus on CSE in their next audit.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1
2
3
4
Ineffective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
5
Highly effective
There is no identified CSE lead working across agencies and working with the
Police. There are few statistics or data relating to referrals or Police activity
so that analysis can be drawn on the level or extent of CSE, risk areas or
performance measures.
10. Prevention:
What is the extent and effectiveness of local CSE prevention work?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
As evidenced throughout this document, we have a number of projects and
services available for young people in terms of prevention work and
awareness raising. We are not yet able to measure the impact of the
interventions. Feedback received from each of the Arc Theatres ‘Raising
voices’ production indicates that young people are more aware of the risks
around CSE and where to get help.
At the majority of the Arc Theatre screenings, a practitioner from our IDSVA
service, the Police, either from the MASH or Sexual Exploitation team, Nia
Project or the Daniel project would be present to support the young people
presenting the short film and to also answer any concerns or issues that may
be identified by the audience.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
Analyst to undertake evaluation of all statistics which will contribute to the
Audit and effectiveness of CSE interventions.
11. Commissioning arrangements:
Are commissioning arrangements effectively meeting the wide range of needs
of children and young people affected by CSE?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
As indicated throughout this document, we have specific support for young
people affected by CSE:
 Young persons IDSVA working with 13-17 year olds where CSE maybe
an issue in addition to domestic abuse
 Arc Theatre
 Nia Project.
Where a young person has specific needs, there is scope to commission a
specialist service e.g. from Stonewall where a young person needs support
around their sexuality.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1
2
3
4
5
Highly effective
Ineffective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
If a robust QA process was in place this would inform requirements and
commissioning activity.
12. Effective placements:
How effective is the Local Authority in identifying and managing placements
for looked after children who are at risk of CSE?
Current situation (please give examples of where things are working well):
The Placement Finding Team (PFT) ensures that the needs of the young
people who are due to be placed are shared with the provider when
identifying placements. The two PFT officers are aware of the areas where
they are not to place young people. The findings from the National report have
been disseminated to the Manager of the Fostering service for consideration.
When children and young people go missing from an out of borough
placement, they are reported to the Police and EDT/ Children's Services and
now these incidents are reported directly to MASH to ensure that the Police
are aware of these incidents.
The CSE briefings identified in previous answers have been made available to
foster carers and supported lodgings carers. There is also a drive to raise
awareness of foster carers from the recruitment point where applicants would
attend the Skills to Foster preparation course. For carers who are approved to
care for young people from the age of 11, they will be expected to complete
the eLearning CSE (NWG) module.
All Independent Reviewing officers are aware of the risks associated with
Child Sexual exploitation and ensure that these are incorporated into the LAC
Review and young persons care plan.
Where there are plans for the young person to return to the borough or to be
near family, the Social Worker would consider referring back to the CSE MAP
to ensure that an effective safety plan is in place.
At present, we have a number of young people in Therapeutic placements as
opposed to Secure placements in accordance with the 2009 Barnardos
recommendations.
Please rate how effective you think practice is in this area:
1 2 3 4 5
Ineffective
Highly effective
In what ways could practice be strengthened?
 In respect of foster carers, specialist training provided by Barnardos on
working with young people who maybe at risk of or experienced CSE
and how to protect/ communicate with them
 Include in Sufficiency strategy?
Please share any additional information about challenges and
opportunities in your borough in relation to CSE:
The quick reference identification/ screening tool for practitioners who will only
spend a limited time with young people is being developed to be able to
determine the possible level of risk. This is based on the 9 high risk factors
identified in the Met Police protocol.
After MASE sign off, the screening tool will be rolled out to all agencies. The
Assessment team will determine whether a more detailed CSE risk
assessment needs to be undertaken alongside a statutory assessment
(Children's Social Care, Level 3) or a Common Assessment (CAF at level 2).