A Merseyside CSE problem profile was undertaken by Merseyside Police in October 2015. The data for Liverpool showed:

• The age range of children and young people at risk of CSE is 12 to 17 years of age with 14 to 16 being the most prominent ages.
• Intelligence linked teenage females to older males who are involved in acquisitive crime
• There is a link between being repeatedly missing and risk of CSE
• There is little intelligence of CSE occurring on a regular basis within gangs.
• Intelligence highlights sexual activity within groups of young people some of which is of an exploitative nature.
• There is no evidence of any pattern in terms of the ethnicity of either perpetrators or victims.

Strategic and Operational Response

There is a Strategic Multi Agency Pan Merseyside CSE group attended by the Director of Children’s Services which has been established to ensure a consistent approach to CSE across Merseyside. The office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is represented at these meetings.

The Director of Children’s Services chairs the Liverpool Safeguarding Childrens Board CSE sub group which is attended by the strategic leads from the partnership. This group provides the leadership in Liverpool and monitors progress against the Liverpool CSE action plan. Our Headteacher, Mr Alderman, represents the Liverpool Association of Secondary Headteachers on this sub-group.

Missing And Child Sexual Exploitation (MACSE) meetings, chaired by a senior police officer, are held monthly to co-ordinate the partnership support and agree risk management plans for young people who are at risk of CSE.  Between April 2015 and March 2016, 347 children and young people were referred to the MACSE of these 260 were female and 87 were male with the most prominent age being 14 and 15 years.

Actions delivered

A specific CSE post was established in September 2013 to co-ordinate the approach to CSE across the LSCB partnership and a gap in support was identified for those young people who did not reach the threshold for Childrens Social Care intervention and who were not subject to statutory Youth Justice interventions. As a result the Protect team was established within Targeted Services for Young People, this team takes referrals via the MACSE of young people who are not subject to any other form of statutory intervention. A CSE social worker post has been established and is the Single Point of Contact  (SPOC) for CSE for Children’s Services. 

A training and communications plan is in place delivering,

• Awareness raising and training for professionals
• Awareness raising and training for children and young people through schools
• Information leaflets for parents and carers ( embed leaflet here )
• Information and awareness training with local businesses , travel and leisure services and taxi drivers
• A website has been developed www.listentomystory.com
• A twitter feed to reach young people , parents and carers @liverpoolscb
• Liverpool are signatories to the European Council One in Five pact.

The CSE co-ordinator attend the PCCs youth participation group to seek the views of young people on the services available the area. 

How St Julie’s has responded:

We have taken part in CSE day (18^th March) for the last 2 years, focusing on awareness raising and preventative education to equip children and young people with the skills they need to make safe and healthy choices and to avoid situations which put them at risk of child sexual exploitation. This has involved publicising the ‘Listen to my Story’ website for students, parents and carers.

St Julie’s Students in Years 9 – 12 have seen the ‘Chelsea’s Choice’ drama production and we have been involved in piloting resources produced by the Ariel Trust

Further information is available at the twitter feed @liverpoolscb

We have been part of the pilot scheme for the Ariel Trust project.  This is a CSE based project which seeks to educate young people on how to spot the signs of being groomed and how to respond to them.  It is there to keep pupils safe.  We have completed the first module through our PSHE programme and this has been delivered to all year groups in Lower and Middle school.

You can see the work we have been doing at cse.arieltrust.com