Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with local authorities to ensure that social services act quickly following reports of potential grooming of vulnerable adults.

Any form of abuse or neglect is unacceptable. The Government makes it clear, in the statutory guidance of the Care Act, that local authorities must ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective, and of high quality.

Where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult in the local authority’s area has care and support needs and appears to be at risk of, or experiencing, abuse or neglect, and is unable to protect themselves as a result of those needs, the local authority must carry out a safeguarding enquiry.

Workers across organisations should be vigilant about adult safeguarding and share information and concerns, whether they be in health and social care, welfare, policing, banking, fire and rescue services, trading standards, leisure services, faith groups, or housing.