Grooming gang response has ‘improved’ says former police chief

We’re joined by former Norfolk Chief Constable, Simon Bailey, who was also the national lead for child protection at the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Ciaran Jenkins: Simon Bailey, how many grooming gangs are currently operating in the UK and in how many places?

Simon Bailey: There are hundreds of investigations that are currently ongoing around the country, but they won’t all involve the particular form of abuse that has become such an issue in the last week or so. And the police response to the threat of this particular form of abuse has improved significantly since Alexis Jay’s Review into Rotherham in 2014. In the last decade, the response looks fundamentally different to the failings that she found, the systemic failures that she found in Rotherham, that have subsequently been found in other reviews that have taken place in the last decade.

Ciaran Jenkins: You were the national lead, Simon, you were the national lead for this. So that was very recently. People will want to know the scale of this – because that’s been a lot of discussion about this over the past few days. So how many places are we talking about where this has been going on recently?

Simon Bailey: I think it’ll be taking place around the country. But what is not being addressed is that actually the particular model of abuse that has become such a political issue in the last week accounts for less than 3% of the recorded child sexual abuse that is occurring. And actually, I think that is probably a bigger issue – 55% and more is actually being perpetrated by a child on another child. To go to the points that are being made, there have been multiple reviews. Professor Jay’s seven-year £185 million review has made 20 recommendations to improve safeguarding in England and Wales. I think the time has now come to start looking forward and to start addressing the failings that have been identified to improve the present child protection arrangements, the safeguarding arrangements, to ensure that we don’t make the mistakes that we have historically made.

Ciaran Jenkins: And some of those failings are not so historic, are they? We on this programme have reported cases over the past months of grooming victims saying they weren’t believed – or even themselves arrested by the police. So are there still officers now who are failing victims of grooming?

Simon Bailey: Of course there will be occasions when the service is being provided by the statutory partners and we should recognise that colleagues in health, education, social care are just as responsible. On occasions mistakes will be made. But what I can say with great confidence is that in the last ten years significant improvements have been made. More charges are being presented to the courts and convictions are being secured.

Ciaran Jenkins: I’m sorry to cut in, we are a bit short on time at this point, but part of the call now for a national public inquiry is that people don’t feel that there’s been accountability necessary, particularly in terms of the police failings that we’ve heard about in so many of these reviews. Have police officers, for instance, and how many, have lost their jobs because of their role in this scandal?

Simon Bailey: I don’t know those figures. But what I can say with real confidence is that I was the national policing lead in 2014. I was responsible for overseeing the police service response to the Jay review. I know and I can say with great confidence that the response to investigations of the type that we’ve been describing has improved beyond all recognition. But this comes down to how partners are dealing with it, how doctors are dealing with it…

Ciaran Jenkins: In Rotherham, for instance, when the Independent Office for Police Conduct conducted a long review into the police failings there, they found 14 officers guilty of misconduct. The most serious sanction was a final written warning. So no wonder people are now calling for accountability – if there wasn’t even any in Rotherham, of all places.

Simon Bailey: But can I can I just make the point, though, that we know about the failings. We know where there was systemic failing. We know where there wasn’t the professional curiosity. We know because of the cultural sensitivities. Police officers, social workers weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. But we are sitting on so many recommendations that will improve the response. A further review, in my opinion, will not add anything further to our knowledge, our awareness and understanding. The time has now come to take action. The time has now come to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, where 7,000 victim survivors have the courage and the confidence to come forward. What has been lost in this debate is the victim survivors’ voice. And of course I recognise that there will be some victim survivors that would want to hold people to account. I understand that. But what we have to be reassuring ourselves is that actually these mistakes are not repeated, that we improve the response and we should be taking action now to make sure the failings of the past are not replicated.