'Children should be safe from grooming gangs'

Birmingham City Council has pledged to test its safeguarding arrangements and improve support after a national inquiry into grooming gangs said it would look at cases in the city.

In a statement supported by the council's coalition administration, council leader Roger Harmer said children had been "let down by failures in safeguarding".

He said every child deserved to be safe and every perpetrator should face justice.

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs said it would "examine the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by grooming gangs and the response of organisations responsible for protecting children".

Harmer said the council would not "ignore difficult questions, including about ethnicity", nor "allow child sexual exploitation to be used to divide communities".

The council committed to independently testing its safeguarding arrangements and developing better support for victims.

It said it was also supporting the National Crime Agency-led Operation Beaconport into historical CSE, and would work with police and other organisations to make sure people affected by historical abuse knew where to seek help and report crimes.

It announced plans for a public awareness campaign to help families and communities recognise signs of abuse and raise concerns. It said it would republish "historic reports" for the public to "see the evidence for themselves".

Councillors in Birmingham heard on Wednesday that between January and June this year, 99 CSE crimes were recorded in the city. 150 were recorded during the same period last year.

More than 140 children were known to be at risk of, or experiencing, CSE, according to Birmingham Children's Trust.

It said 90.6% of victims were girls, mainly aged between 13 and 17. Up to 98 CSE investigations were under way, according to the trust's report to the council, six of which were believed to involve groups.

Harmer said Birmingham would cooperate fully with the national inquiry but would "not wait to be told to act".

"Anyone who comes forward must be listened to, believed and supported," he said.

The national inquiry has said it could expand its investigation to the rest of the West Midlands if necessary.

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