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Child protection systems across UK 'must be reviewed'

Measures to protect children from serious abuse must be reviewed following the widespread sexual molestation which was uncovered in the wake of the Rotherham scandal, MPs have warned.

A scathing report from the Communities and Local Government Committee condemned a watchdog for failing to expose failings at Rotherham council which led to the abuse of 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013.

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Victim lawyer: Rotherham council was 'dysfunctional'

Thousands of vulnerable youngsters slipped through the net because Rotherham Council were "dysfunctional", a defence lawyer told Good Morning Britain, after MPs published a damning report into mass sexual abuse in the south Yorkshire town.

David Greenwood, who is representing 32 victims of the sexual abuse, said: "There were lots of good ideas, lots of good meetings going on, lots of good strategies, but no one was taking a lead on it."

Ofsted: We did not give Rotherham 'the focus it needed'

The education watchdog has admitted it failed to give Rotherham Council "the forensic focus it needed and deserved," after MPs slammed Ofsted's inability to expose mass child sexual abuse in the south Yorkshire town.

An Ofsted spokesman said they "welcomed" the chance to give evidence before the Communities and Local Government Committee, after MPs published a scathing report into child protection services in Rotherham.

Ofsted welcomes the opportunity to give evidence to the committee. In common with a number of organisations, we accept that past inspections may not have given child sexual exploitation the forensic focus it needed and deserved.

That's why last year we introduced a new and much more rigorous inspection framework for inspecting children's services, which places a stronger emphasis on the issue.

Inspectors now look closely at the experiences of children, focusing sharply on whether the risks of sexual exploitation are understood and acted upon by frontline agencies. This week we will be publishing the first in-depth nationwide survey into local authority practice and responses to child sexual exploitation.

– An Ofsted spokesman

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MP: 'Serious questions' need to be asked of Ofsted

The education watchdog needs to answer some "serious questions" about why they failed to expose Rotherham council's inability to tackle prolific child sexual exploitation, the head of a group of MPs said.

Ofsted should have done more to expose the widespread abuse, Clive Betts said. Credit: PA

Labour's Clive Betts, who chairs the Communities and Local Government committee, hit out at Ofsted, who he said failed to see the poor care Rotherham council was giving vulnerable girls.

Serious questions also need to be asked of Ofsted. Repeated Ofsted inspections in Rotherham failed to lift the lid on the council's shameful inability to tackle child sexual exploitation. As a committee, we will want to question Ofsted about their inspection regime and ask why their inspections were so ineffective in Rotherham.

It is an important matter of public policy that senior council staff be held accountable for their actions. Arrangements should be put in place to bring to account not just council officers still in post but those who have moved on from an authority before serious questions about their performance emerge.

– Clive Betts

Child protection across the UK 'must be reviewed'

Measures to protect children from serious abuse must be reviewed following the widespread sexual molestation which was uncovered in the wake of the Rotherham scandal, MPs have warned.

Government needs to review child protection advice, MPs said. Credit: PA

A scathing report from the Communities and Local Government Committee condemned a watchdog because it did not expose failings at Rotherham council which led to the abuse of 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013.

MPs recognised the south Yorkshire council had many child protection policies in place, but some were "divorced from reality" and officers had to be held to account for the "systematic" failings.

The committee pointed to Ofsted, the education watchdog, which they said had failed to protect children in the town despite numerous inspections.

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

However, the town is "not an outlier" for abuse and all councils must review their systems for protecting children while government must look again at its guidance, it added.

Read: MPs call for urgent investigation into Rotherham abuse cover-up

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