‘Much more to do to protect children from sexual exploitation’, says CJI

Five years after the publication of a Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) report on child sexual exploitation, a review of progress found that out of nine accepted recommendations, only one inspection recommendation had been fully achieved, six were partially achieved and two recommendations were not achieved.

“Child sexual exploitation is not a lifestyle choice for children who go missing.  It is not a fictitious storyline in a popular television drama; it is child abuse. It is real and it is happening here in our towns, cities, and rural communities,” said Ms Durkin.

“It can involve children who live with their parents just as much as those who are in care or have been in care before and it has a devastating impact on victims.”

Inspectors found that since 2020 work has been undertaken by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in partnership with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and others including the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland to develop a clearer picture of the scale and nature of child sexual exploitation that is occurring.

“It is encouraging that work to develop a comprehensive ‘Problem Profile’ has been progressed, but data gaps continue to exist and more needs to be done, as efforts to effectively respond to child sexual exploitation depend on the abuse being identified in the first place,” said the Chief Inspector.

With PSNI statistics showing that in 2023/24 over 50 per cent of the recorded sexual offices in Northern Ireland were perpetrated against children under 18-years-old, Ms Durkin said she was concerned by staffing and deployment pressures affecting the PSNI’s Public Protection Branch.

“These dedicated police officers, who are committed to protecting children, do complex and harrowing work,” said the Chief Inspector. “While I respect that the deployment of police officers is an operational decision for the chief constable, I was deeply concerned that at the time of fieldwork for this Follow-Up Review, the Child Sexual Exploitation Team had three detective constables out of a compliment of 12.

“This placed additional pressure on these Officers and their supervisors and was impacting the PSNI’s response to, and the investigation of, child sexual exploitation, creating a risk for children and the organisation.

“If a victim focus doesn’t apply to child sexual abuse victims, it is hard to see where it does,”

As part of evidence gathering for the Follow-Up Review, inspectors carried out case file reviews which showed that children, whether they were in care or not, were not being considered as children first, as children who were at risk, and children who needed a robust, child safeguarding and protection response.

“Inspectors were concerned that the PSNI’s response to children who were reported missing was not adequate, especially for children living in care,”  said Ms Durkin.

“We urge the PSNI to work with health and social care and justice partners to ensure a strategically led and co-ordinated partnership approach that ensures a ‘child-first’ response.

“Being over the age of consent does not mean you are not a child who is being sexually exploited.”

The Chief Inspector also expressed her concern that the strategic governance arrangements to monitor and oversee the collective response to child sexual exploitation had changed and was not a regular topic for discussion by the Children and Young Person Strategy Monitoring and Reporting Board.

“We need a collective and effective response from within and beyond the criminal justice system and effective oversight at senior levels across all relevant Departments to tackle this abuse and help create the Safer Communities aspired to in the Programme for Government,” she said.

While inspectors welcome the work that has been ongoing to develop multi-agency training opportunities and revise and improve policies by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, Ms Durkin said there were significant gaps between the partially and achieved recommendations and the level of progress organisations believed they had made against the inspection recommendations compared to Inspectors’ assessment.

“It is disappointing that positive progress noted in 2020 had not been sustained and Inspectors found very real and worrying signs that resource pressures were influencing policy and practice, rather than a more timely and proactive response in the best interests of the child,” said the Chief Inspector.

“I hope the findings of this Follow-Up Review encourage criminal justice leaders in the DoJ, the PSNI and other criminal justice organisations, to fully implement all the accepted recommendations and continue to work with partners to address the ongoing challenges in tackling child sexual exploitation, improving outcomes and protecting our children from harm.”

The PSNI said it was “fully committed” to improving how it identifies, safeguards and protects vulnerable children, especially those who go missing and are at risk of exploitation.

Detective Chief Superintendent Zoe McKee, Head of Public Protection Branch said: “CJINI has acknowledged the significant progress made by the PSNI in strengthening our response to child sexual exploitation, including better strategic coordination, improved risk-flagging processes and the professionalism of our officers and staff. We welcome this recognition and are determined to build on it.

“The review also highlights important areas where our response has not always been sufficiently consistent or child-centred. We take these concerns extremely seriously. Any instance where a child does not receive the service they deserve is unacceptable and we are accelerating work to deliver a more trauma-informed and risk-led approach.

“We have supported the updated multi-agency CSE Problem Profile and continue to work closely with the Department of Justice, SBNI and statutory partners to strengthen the whole-system response. New CSE flagging processes are already improving identification and safeguarding, with further enhancements underway.

“Alerts for children on the Child Protection Register are now fully embedded, frontline training has been expanded and updated referral pathways, toolkits and quality-assurance measures are strengthening investigative practice.

“We are working with the Public Prosecution Service to improve decision-making, ensure greater recognition of grooming and exploitation and support more consistent outcomes for children.

“In relation to missing children, we have completed extensive dip-sampling, a full NPCC peer review, and detailed analysis of missing-from-care incidents. Work continues to reduce delays linked to the Philomena Protocol and to ensure high-quality risk information at the first point of contact.

“As a key partner within the SBNI Child Exploitation Committee, we remain focused on improving data-sharing, partnership planning and multi-agency governance and response. Exploitation-related training has been significantly expanded, including mandatory e-learning and multi-agency exercises.

“We recognise there is more to do. Our absolute priority is the safety and wellbeing of children across Northern Ireland and we are fully committed to delivering a more consistent, child-centred and partnership-driven response to CSE, criminal exploitation and missing children.”