Home Office knew about Rotherham abuse 12 years before Jay Report, review finds

THE Home Office knew about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham 16 years ago — at least ten years before the Jay Report was ordered — a review has found.

One unpublished report from 2002, which was found in the Home Office archives, mentions “men who are believed to be responsible for pimping and grooming young people into prostitution”.

It was sent to the Home Office by the University of Luton, which was commissioned in 2001 by Ministers to run research projects in Sheffield, Bristol and Rotherham.

The projects were shelved before concluding their research.

An independent review into what evidence the Home Office was sent between 1998 and 2005 about CSE in the town concluded Ministers failed to act on "failings we now know were putting children at risk".

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: “It is clear that the Home Office knew about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham from 2002.  

“The report also highlights the knowledge of the local authority and South Yorkshire Police of the abuse.  

“Why, when so many in authority knew the scale and severity of this crime did it take until 2014, with the publication of the Jay report, for a large scale investigation to occur?

“How many lives could have been protected if swift action had been taken a decade before?”

Barrister Richard Whittam QC and NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said in their report that ther was no evidence of any files being deliberately destroyed by the Home Office.

But they highlighted “tensions” and “significant disputes” which arose between agencies in Rotherham and the research team.

They said: “The Home Office focus seems specifically to have been on the consequence of such disputes for the advancement of evidence that would support a commissioned evaluation, rather than the cause of such disputes.

“Closer consideration of the latter could have uncovered faster the failings we now know were putting children at risk.”

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The review did find that pieces of information questioning the response of statutory services were available to the Home Office, meaning that opportunities to follow up on, or seek further information about, matters in Rotherham, including whether the police and other statutory agencies were responding appropriately, existed.”

He said a new recording and referral system for allegations of child abuse had been introduced in 2014 — around the time the review was ordered.

Mr Javid added: “The Permanent Secretary and I take this issue extremely seriously and the Home Office will continue to promote amongst all staff the vital importance of using all available information to consider if a child is at risk of abuse.”

A Rotherham Borough Council spokesman said: “We welcome any report that gives further insight into the serious past failings in Rotherham. 

“We will be considering the report in more detail, taking on board any further learnings it may raise.”

 

 

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