MPs condemn Ofsted for failing to lift the lid on Rotherham abuse

Child protection systems must be reviewed following alarming evidence thatorganised abuse is widespread in England in the wake of the Rotherham scandal, MPs have said.

In a damning report, they condemned a watchdog for failing to lift the lid onthe South Yorkshire council's inability to tackle the exploitation of childrenand warned it faces serious questions about its ineffective regime.

Council officers must also be held to account for the "systemic" failings inRotherham even if they have moved on to other areas, the Communities and Local Government Committee said.

But the town is "not an outlier" for abuse and all councils must review theirsystems for protecting children while government must look again at itsguidance, it added.

Around 1,400 children are estimated to have been victims of abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, a report by Professor Alexis Jay published earlier this year found.

Ofsted carried out a number of inspections of the council over the period butfailed to protect children in the town and will now be called to give evidenceto the committee, MPs said.

Although Rotherham council had many child protection policies they were"divorced from reality", according to the child sexual exploitation in Rotherham: some issues for local government report.

The committee also called for an investigation into why key documents frombetween 1999 to 2003 have gone missing.

Shaun Wright, who had been the elected councillor with responsibility forchildren's services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010, quit as SouthYorkshire's police and crime commissioner in September after weeks of intense pressure following the publication of the Jay report.

Martin Kimber, council chief executive, and former strategic director ofchildren's services Joyce Thacker also quit.

Committee chairman Clive Betts says Ofsted inquiries into Rotherham failed.

The official schools inspection body said they "accept that past inspections may not have given child sexual exploitation the forensic focus it needed and deserved."

The Leader of Rotherham Council, Cllr Paul Lakin, said the authority would continue to cooperate with reviews and inspections into sexual exploitation in the town.