Recommendation 36

HM Government · verbatim extract Deferred

The Government does not accept this recommendation. We recognise that a thorough and robust response is required to protect victims of child criminal exploitation (CCE), who are often the most vulnerable children in our society, to bring perpetrators to justice. CCE is currently defined in statutory guidance for frontline practitioners working with children. This includes the Keeping Children Safe in Education (2023)12 and Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance (2018).13 CCE is also defined across a range of guidance, including the Serious Violence Strategy (published 2018),14 the Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit for frontline practitioners (updated 2022)15 and the county lines guidance for prosecutors and youth offending teams (published 2019).16 The Home Office is working across Government to identify areas of learning and improvement with regard to CCE and county lines and we regularly consult with partners, including the police, on the legislative framework in connection with CCE and keep this under regular review. We welcome the British Transport Police’s efforts to improve responses to child exploitation through the secondment of two Prevention Officers from the Children’s Society. We recommend that the Government work with other police forces with a dedicated County Lines Taskforce to pilot the inclusion of Prevention Officers within those teams, and the sharing of good practice.