Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is an utterly abhorrent crime. Protecting children and supporting victim-survivors must always be our top priority.
There have been many valuable reports, reviews and investigations into Child Sexual Exploitation in Bradford district over several years including:
– A report commissioned in 2019 that covered cases from a 20-year period from 2001.
– 70 reports on CSE that have been taken to public committees, including scrutiny by cross-party committees, since 2013.
– Two Serious Case Reviews in 2016 and 2017.
– An Independent thematic review into Child Sexual Exploitation in Bradford in 2021. The Council’s Conservative-led Overview and Scrutiny Committee helped ensure delivery of the recommendations.
Bradford referred itself to and shared all its data with the Prof Alexis Jay National Public Inquiry into CSE, which cost £186.6 million. The inquiry took seven years and heard 7,000 testimonies. It uncovered the devastating failings of agencies around the country. Bradford is mentioned 47 times.
In 2022, this inquiry produced 20 recommendations, yet the previous Tory Government did not implement a single one. We need action now to implement these recommendations—this is where public funds would be better spent. Victims need action.
While progress has been made, we must still be vigilant across all services that protect our children. We will always bring perpetrators to account and will never be diverted from this. That’s why, since 2013, Operation Dalesway has brought 47 defendants to justice, resulting in them being sentenced to a total of 535 years in prison. The operation continues today, supporting prosecutions and investigating cases, and we have specialist services across the district that support victims and those at risk of CSE.
Bradford Labour will continue to listen to victims, hold agencies accountable, and push for meaningful reforms. The issue should not be used for political point scoring. We must work together to stamp out this horrific crime.
Read our motion here: