Child sexual exploitation continues to be a problem in the town of Rotherham, with "multiple" instances still ongoing in the town, opposition councillors have warned.
The South Yorkshire town was rocked in 2014 after the Jay Report found numerous failings by police and council officials between 1997 and 2013 which led to 1,500 girls being abused, with many cases still being prosecuted.
But a new report by the Conservative leader of the opposition, Emily Barley, alleges there are still cases of grooming and child sexual exploitation ongoing in the town. Opposition councillors fear not enough action is being taken by police and council officials - something which Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire police dispute.
The report claims there are instances of active exploitation taking place in parks, allotments, car parks, homes, takeaways even at a car wash and a petrol station, adding it remains an "open secret" in the town today. It names five areas of the borough - Rawmarsh, Wath, Greasborough, Eastwood and Clifton - where the abuse takes place.
An empty shopping precinct in Rotherham town centre on the last Saturday shopping day before Christmas.
Tim Goode
There are also claims council staff say "their managers told them not to talk about child sexual exploitation".
Another explosive allegation claims that despite police being told child sexual exploitation was taking place at a specific location in the town after 10pm, a PCSO said there was no problem. It later emerged they had patrolled the area four hours earlier.
A motion is set to be tabled by Conservative councillors later today which demands Rotherham Council gives a full apology to the survivors of the abuse.
Ms Barley, leader of the Rotherham Council Conservative Group, said: “Earlier this year I established a working group to make enquiries into CSE, following persistent rumours that CSE continues to be a problem in Rotherham. "A handful of new Councillors established, in just a few months, that children in the Borough are still being groomed and sexually exploited.
“When Councillors reported their concerns and passed specific intelligence, including locations, times, activities, names and number plates to Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police, they were variously ignored or treated as a nuisance. Nothing was actually done. "While processes for dealing with intelligence and CSE may look good on paper, our experience is that in practice they do not work.
“We have also found a reluctance within Rotherham Council to talk about CSE. The chair of the relevant scrutiny committee has repeatedly refused to include CSE on the agenda, and the Director of Children and Young People’s Services has been dodging a meeting with me to discuss CSE for months.
"We frequently hear that everyone cares about CSE in Rotherham, but as far as we can see no one is doing anything about it. They say they take it seriously and that everything is fine, but how can they know if they’re not really looking at it?”
South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said the Conservative councillors' report was "very vague and full of untruths" and he was "amazed anyone is taking this seriously - this is a serious matter but this is not a serious document".
In a statement, South Yorkshire Police said: "We are currently working through the detail of the report as we have not had early sight of it or been involved in informing its authors.
"We want to be absolutely clear that CSE remains a problem in Rotherham as it does right across the country. There will always be people intent on harming children for their own gains. We are working tirelessly to bring those people to justice but even more importantly to prevent harm occurring in the first place.
"This has included the creation of dedicated CSE teams working in partnership with Rotherham Council to ensure information is shared in quick time.
"We also established the Operation MakeSafe which sees dedicated officers provide training to staff in key locations who may have opportunity to spot the signs of CSE. This has included hotels receptionists, taxi drivers and take away staff amongst many, many others.
"We have a monthly working group which details the intelligence and investigations we are working on including the reports received by the Conservative Group. We have previously invited the group to attend this meeting and will extend this offer again in the hope that we can better inform them of the extensive work underway."
Rotherham Council’s Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services Suzanne Joyner said: “The Council takes all allegations of child abuse very seriously, including those allegations made by this group of councillors. "Our multi-agency team of social workers, police, and voluntary sector partners works with children who may be at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation.
"We work with Barnardo’s in every school in the borough to improve awareness of appropriate relationships and the dangers of grooming, and we commission services to support survivors. Rotherham’s approach has been independently inspected and found to be successful in reducing the risks to our young people. Indeed Ofsted found that Rotherham’s Children’s Services had been ‘transformed’.
“Where intelligence is received relating to potential child sexual exploitation, this is reviewed on a regular basis, with police and social workers taking the necessary steps to safeguard children where necessary.
"Clearly not every allegation will be validated once it has been properly investigated. Based on the information we have received, this process seems to have been followed fully in relation to the allegations made by the councillors. I would continue to urge anyone with concerns to report these through to Children’s Services, or to the police using the 101 number.”
