Sarah Champion MP will be at the Child Sexual Exploitation Summit at 10 Downing Street, today.

Although maltby blogger is blocked from  @SarahChampionMP,  I still receive her “newsletter” – which is more than can be said about my own MP Kevin Barron – and have access to her website.

(maltbyblogger comment to follow)

Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, will go to 10 Downing Street to suggest how the country can improve national and local responses when dealing with child sexual exploitation. Sarah has been invited to a summit held by David Cameron to give her views on the best ways to tackle the crime. It comes less than a week after Sarah’s adjou rnment debate in which she called for more support from the Government for Rotherham and its victims and survivors. Sarah also used the debate to set out her 5 point plan on how child sexual exploitation should be tackled on a national level.

Those points are:

 To establish a national task force to combat organised CSE

 Mandatory PHSE to Key Stage 1 children teaching them about healthy relationships

 To make it mandatory that anyone employed to work with children has training in spotting the signs of child abuse and how to report concerns.

 For the Government to make it clear that there will be penalties if health, education, local authorities and the police do not share information to prevent child abuse.

 To create a culture where victims of child abuse are believed

Sarah already met privately with the Prime Minister earlier this month to press Mr Cameron on further funding for Rotherham’s victim and survivors. She also put forward the idea of a national task force to deal with abuse.  

Since that meeting, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced that £250,000 would be made available to set up a ‘Risky Business-style’ service in Rotherham. The three and a half hour meeting will be held on Tuesday 3rd March.

Ways of improving national and local responses, getting interventions right on the ground and identifying and supporting more victims and survivors will all be discussed.         Ahead of the summit, Sarah said: “I’m happy that the Prime Minister wants to hear my views on how best we can tackle child sexual exploitation. It is a subject in which I have gained much experience since my election in 2012.                                                                        

I hope this experience can be used in some way to help the country progress and better deal with the crime. I’m glad that David Cameron and the Government are finally acknowledging that this is an issue which needs urgent attention, but I’m disappointed it has taken so long. It is now over 6 months since Professor Alexis Jay’s report was released but Rotherham has had hardly any resources or funding. That’s 6 months lost which could have been used to make big steps in providing better support and protection for victims and survivors. “

Child sexual exploitation needs to be seen as a national issue; it is not exclusive to Rotherham or any other town in the country. We need meaningful funding so we can tackle this horrendous crime head on, provide better support and ultimately get the justice that victim and survivors deserve.”

For more information please contact: Nick Fromont Parliamentary Assistant (Press and PR) to Sarah Champion MP Member of Parliament for Rotherham

Telephone: 01709 331037

Email: nicholas.fromont@parliament.uk

Website: http://www.sarahchampionmp.com

If you would like to receive Sarah’s E-newsletter to learn more about her work representing Rotherham visit the website