Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue statutory guidance to all statutory safeguarding partners, including police, local authorities and integrated care boards, for the criminal exploitation of children measures in the Crime and Policing Bill should the Bill receive Royal Assent; and if not, why not, and what steps they will take to clarify roles and responsibilities and embed best practice in safeguarding children from exploitation in that absence of that statutory guidance.

We recognise the importance of effective multi-agency working to safeguard children from criminal exploitation.

The Crime and Policing Bill includes provision for statutory guidance to be issued to relevant law enforcement officers about their role in preventing, detecting and investigating the new child criminal exploitation offence and about their functions relating to the new child criminal exploitation prevention orders being introduced in the Bill.

In addition, we will publish non-statutory guidance for all relevant frontline practitioners (including statutory partners) to help them understand the new offence and their role in disrupting this crime and supporting victims. This guidance will supplement existing statutory guidance, including ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which set out the roles and responsibilities of organisations and agencies to help, support, safeguard and protect children from harm, including in relation to child criminal exploitation.