The Head of Service of Contextual Safeguarding introduced the report of the Director of Children, Families and Education, which provided the Committee with an overview of the response to child exploitation and missing children in Wirral. The report set out the working arrangements across partners, in Wirral and regionally; and included an overview of themes, trends and impact. The working arrangements and governance were described with the intention of reassuring members that exploitation and missing remained priorities for the directorate and partners, with resources and time directed to identifying and managing the risk of harm.

Members received assurance that Wirral was not exposed to the type of child exploitation seen in areas of Greater Manchester. The Head of Service of Contextual Safeguarding stated that Wirral had a team of dedicated professionals actively looking for exploitation and establishing any issues and the working arrangements of the multi-agency teams ensured the Council was well placed to identify and tackle those types of issues.

In response to a query surrounding sibling groups, the Head of Service of Contextual Safeguarding referenced the Wirral Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) panel, which reviewed social work led Child Exploitation Assessments to determine if the threshold for a MACE plan was met and aimed to reduce the risk of child exploitation, he reported that one of the “four P’s” was protect and that exploitation plans were cross referenced with the child’s plan to consider sibling and associates of the child who might also be at risk.

It was highlighted that the prevention project “In the Zone” was not yet being delivered in alternative provision as it was still being rolled out but the intention moving forward would to be offer the prevention sessions in all organisations.

Resolved – That the approach and ongoing work relating to child exploitation and missing children be noted.