National action plan to tackle child sexual exploitation: final report

Annex A: Summary of Actions of the 2016 National Action Plan to Prevent and Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation

Action

General

1. Develop a set of indicators to measure progress towards achieving the outcomes in this plan

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

2. Develop an approach to involving children and young people in developing and reviewing the actions in this plan and shaping future national policy on child sexual exploitation.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

The risk that children and young people are sexually exploited is reduced through a focus on prevention and early identification

3. Train a further 1,860 young mentors to develop the skills to identify abusive and violent behaviours and develop safe options to support and challenge their peers.

Lead responsibility: Violence Reduction Unit Education Scotland

4. Expand the national sexual violence prevention programme in secondary schools across Scotland

Lead responsibility: Rape Crisis Scotland

5. Consider how the Sidestep peer mentoring and community engagement approach can support young people at risk or affected by sexual exploitation and their families.

Lead responsibility: Action for Children

6. Support schools, colleges and education services in undertaking their safeguarding responsibilities.

Lead responsibility: Education Scotland

7. Deliver regional safeguarding events for education staff to share learning and best practice.

Lead responsibility: Education Scotland

8. Ensure that all practitioners and agencies use the same definition of child sexual exploitation to facilitate joint risk assessments and effective multi-agency responses.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

9. Develop a framework for Child Protection Committees to facilitate a consistent and collaborative approach to identifying and responding to child sexual exploitation across Scotland.

Lead responsibility: National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group

10. Develop guidance for practitioners and agencies to support the identification and assessment of child sexual exploitation.

Lead responsibility: National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group

11. Deliver child sexual exploitation regional workshops for practitioners to share learning and best practice.

Lead responsibility: National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group

12. Deliver 150 community events across Scotland to support local areas raise public and practitioner awareness of child sexual exploitation.

Lead responsibility: Barnardo's Scotland

13. Develop the new community justice self-evaluation framework to cross-reference adult and child protection arrangements, including the response to child sexual exploitation, to support Community Planning Partnerships in evaluating the effectiveness of their response.

Lead responsibility: Care Inspectorate

14. Deliver training sessions to raise awareness of the links between child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.

Lead responsibility: Roshni

15. Agree a template to capture information about child sexual exploitation and implement across Scotland to improve consistency of information collection.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government and Police Scotland

16. Pilot, evaluate and roll out a child sexual exploitation and abuse intelligence sharing toolkit to strengthen the multi-agency response to prevention, disruption and detection.

Lead responsibility: Police Scotland

17. Develop a coordinated evidence base in which existing and emerging information and research is consolidated and gaps identified.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

18. Develop guidance for medical practitioners on child sexual exploitation for inclusion in national child protection guidance for health professionals in Scotland.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

19. Identify action at national level to support local areas raise awareness of child sexual exploitation with night-time economy workers.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government, National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group

20. Evaluate the impact of the national awareness raising campaign and work with partners and key stakeholders to extend its reach.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

21. Raise awareness and understanding of child sexual abuse with sports clubs, churches and faith organisations, residential care homes for children and young people, LGBT communities and organisations supporting children with disabilities.

Lead responsibility: Stop It Now! Scotland

22. Reform the system of civil orders available to protect communities from those who may commit sexual offences.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

Children and young people at risk of or experiencing sexual exploitation and their families receive appropriate and high quality support

23. Ensure that return interviews are undertaken in all cases where a child or young people has been missing to help identify abuse.

Lead responsibility: Local Authorities and Police Scotland

24. Ensure that relevant training for practitioners highlights the links between going missing and vulnerability to abuse.

Lead responsibility: National Steering Group on Missing People

25. Ensure that prevention planning for going missing takes place for vulnerable individuals and groups.

Lead responsibility: Local Authorities, Health Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships

26. Market the Runaway and Say Something helpline services directly to young people in Scotland to ensure that more children and young people are supported when they are thinking of going missing or need help to stay safe.

Lead responsibility: Missing People

27. Pilot a protocol for looked after children who go missing from residential and foster care with a view to rolling out nationally.

Lead responsibility: Police Scotland, Local Authorities

28. Support all care services for looked after and accommodated children inspected address any issues in identifying and supporting vulnerable children and young people who may be at risk of, or affected by, sexual exploitation.

Lead responsibility: Care Inspectorate

29. Consider further action to provide better protection for children and young people with learning disabilities and support them develop an understanding of relationships and risk

Lead responsibility: National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group

30. Ensure that more children and young people at risk of or affected by sexual exploitation and other forms of sexual abuse are identified early and receive appropriate support.

Lead responsibility: Barnardo's Scotland, Moira Anderson Foundation

31. Develop a skills and knowledge framework for those working with adults and children and young people affected by trauma and abuse to help practitioners identify the risk of abuse and respond to keep people safe.

Lead responsibility: NHS Education Scotland

32. Develop a national training plan for those working with children and young people and adults affected by trauma and abuse to inform and prioritise commissioning of services.

Lead responsibility: NHS Education Scotland

33. Develop a programme to support implementation of the trauma and abuse skills and knowledge framework and training plan.

Lead responsibility: NHS Education Scotland

34. Report on emerging themes in relation to child sexual exploitation from inspections in the last 12-18 months to inform service planning and delivery.

Lead responsibility: Care Inspectorate

35. Publish Scotland's first Trafficking and Exploitation strategy.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

Perpetrators are stopped, brought to justice and are less likely to re-offend

36. Agree the future direction of online safety work in Scotland.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

37. Develop a programme of change to improve how evidence is taken from children and vulnerable witnesses.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Courts and Tribunals Services

38. Pilot and evaluate the Stop to Listen approach to supporting children and young people disclose sexual abuse and supporting practitioners to act in a child-centred way.

Lead responsibility: Children 1st

39. Share best practice in supporting child victims and witnesses of violence from across Europe with Child Protection Committees.

Lead responsibility: Children 1st

40. Provide training and accreditation for staff preparing and prosecuting sexual offences cases.

Lead responsibility: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

41. Use the findings of the evaluation of the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit to inform future development.

Lead responsibility: Police Scotland

42. Improve practice to better support young people who may be at risk of or involved in offending.

Lead responsibility: Youth Justice Improvement Board

43. Ensure child sexual offences committed in the rest of the UK can be prosecuted in Scotland.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government

Cultural and social barriers to preventing and tackling child sexual exploitation are reduced

44. Strengthen links with Equally Safe to ensure alignment with action to prevent and tackle child sexual exploitation.

Lead responsibility: Scottish Government