Recommendation 23

HM Government · verbatim extract Rejected

110. The Government does not accept this recommendation. We agree that children who are subject to child criminal exploitation should be treated as victims first and foremost. We also agree they should receive support and an appropriate response from the police and law enforcement agencies. But we do not believe a statutory definition is required to deliver this. As stated in our response to the Home Affair Select Committee’s report on Drugs, frontline professionals are already under a statutory duty to have regard to guidance which includes information on child criminal exploitation (Keeping Children Safe In Education (2023) and Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023)). Further guidance on how to support and protect children who are victims of criminal exploitation is provided through the Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit (2022) and the county lines guidance for prosecutors and youth offending teams (2019). 111. The Home Office has also recently published updated guidance for frontline professionals that aims to aid the identification of potential victims of county lines exploitation and appropriate safeguarding referral routes and ensure those who are in need receive help. 112. We recognise that robust sanctions are required for those who criminally exploit children, and there are a range of existing legislation which can be used to prosecute this criminal behaviour including Section 19 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, Sections 44–46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 and Section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We are working with partners to strengthen the response to child criminal exploitation.