Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to hasten the provision of financial support to survivors of sexual exploitation in Rotherham and their families.

The Home Secretary has committed to working closely with local authorities in Rotherham to encourage as many victims as possible to come forward and to ensure that appropriate support is available when they do. The Government has empowered local commissioners to deliver services for victims and they are best place to assess the support needs in the local area and to commission services to meet those needs.

To help address the increased demand for victims’ services in Rotherham the Department for Education is providing additional funding of up to £2m to children’s social care. The Ministry of Justice has provided £1.6m to the Police and Crime Commissioner to commission local victims’ services and around £549k extra funding to provide specialist support, including Independent Sexual Violence Advisers. NHS England has worked with regional Health and Justice Commissioners to reconfigure existing resources to support victims in Rotherham, providing £500k up to 2020.