Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to improve co-ordination with the Metropolitan Police in tackling the (a) trafficking, (b) grooming and (c) abuse of children.
Police, including the Metropolitan Police Service, are operationally independent of Government. We work with law enforcement agencies to better understand the challenges they face and, where appropriate, to help strengthen their response to the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable children.
In 2016 the Home Secretary commissioned HMICFRS to produce quarterly reports, monitoring the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) progress in improving its protection of young people from harm and abuse. The quarterly Child Protection Inspections took place between 2017-2018. Following this programme, the Inspectorate continues to provide ongoing learning support to the MPS and will revisit the force to assess progress.