Extra services to help children at risk of sexual exploitation in Devon

New services to help children at risk of sexual exploitation are being planned in Devon with a cash boost of almost £120,000.

The County Council’s Cabinet member for children, Cllr James McInnes, said that Council Leader John Hart had agreed more cash to expand Devon’s prevention services.

The announcement came following a series of hard-hitting recommendations from an all-party task group set up to look into child sexual exploitation in Devon.

The task group found that there is no intelligence to suggest organised child sexual exploitation networks are operating in Devon.

But it said child exploitation is still likely to be happening in the county on a daily basis.

And it called for prevention services to be expanded to include all children at risk of child sexual exploitation, not just those who are in the social care system already.

Today Cllr McInnes said: “I warmly welcome all the recommendations from the all-party task group.

“It has done an excellent job and I will be looking to implement all its recommendations as soon as possible.

“One of the key measures it recommends is for us to expand our Reach team of specialist youth and social workers.

“They currently support children with a social worker who are at risk of sexual exploitation. I want to expand this to cover all children who may be at risk.

“Obviously the County Council is faced with cutting £50 million from its budget this year to meet Government spending reductions and cash is very tight.

“But child protection is a key priority of this administration and we have been able to find the money to make this happen.

“I meet the police and the other agencies concerned with child exploitation on a regular basis but I am absolutely committed to us working even more closely together to fight this terrible blight on our society which ruins children’s lives.”