Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have analysed the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham; and whether the total number of victims cited in that report is based on verifiable data or is an estimate.

The Government is clear that there is more to be done for victims and to minimise the risk of such terrible events occurring in Rotherham or anywhere else in the future. What happened in Rotherham was a complete dereliction of duty.

This is why the Home Secretary has been chairing a series of Secretaries of State meetings alongside colleagues from the Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, Communities and Local Government and Department of Health, and the Attorney General and Solicitor General to analyse the failures identified in the Jay report and consider how all parties, including the police and local government, can work together more effectively on the issue of child sexual exploitation to protect vulnerable children and bring offenders to justice.

This will build on the existing work of the Home Office-led National Group to tackle sexual violence against children and vulnerable people, which is ensuring agencies are working together to better identify those at risk.

The Jay report made a ‘conservative estimate’ that there were over 1400 victims of CSE during the 15-year period. The 1400 figure was based on a reading of 66 case files, out of a total of 988, and includes some who were forced to watch others being assaulted and abused as well as those who were physically harmed.

The Government is determined that appalling cases of child abuse should be exposed so that perpetrators face justice and the vulnerable are protected. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are able to apply for Special Grant if the police force they are responsible for faces an unexpected and exceptional event that places a significant financial burden on the force.