Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2020 to Question 102886 on Crime: Children, what plans she has to make an assessment of the effectiveness of data sharing between local authorities relating to child criminal exploitation.

The department has no specific plans to review the effectiveness of data sharing between local authorities relating to child criminal exploitation.

As I set out in the answer I gave on 16 October 2020 to 102886, there is a robust statutory framework in place that requires effective sharing of information between practitioners, local organisations and agencies to help identify, assess and respond to risks or concerns about the safety and welfare of children. Ofsted inspect the effectiveness of local authority children’s services and arrangements. Guidance on the framework for inspecting local authority children’s services is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-local-authority-childrens-services-from-2018/inspecting-local-authority-childrens-services#introduction.