The Report was presented by the Peripatetic Group Manager, the purpose of which was to inform the Committee of the progress to date in developing and implementing a multi-agency operational Exploitation Prevention Panel in Bridgend.

She shared a presentation with the committee and invited questions.

The Chairperson stated she was pleased to see progress take form and sought some clarity. She queried if the tools mentioned in the presentation were being used in Early Help and A&E because it was a regional strategy. She stated that the inspection picked up that it was something for all partners and she was looking for reassurance.

The Peripatetic Group Manager responded to confirm that Early Help was on board with utilising the tools mentioned but she assured the committee that she would reach out to Hospitals as well.

A member queried how they intended to gain parental engagement to ensure children are not exploited.

The Peripatetic Group Manager responded, relating to work undertaken in her role in a previous Local Authority, and stated she would be happy to share the resources utilised and thereby share with a wider audience, she however also stated that it was work in progress within the current setting.

A member queried if there has been consideration to extending community engagement towards the night-time economy, namely pubs, night clubs and door supervisors.

The Peripatetic Group Manager responded stating that developing their relationships with the wider community was essential to the strategy and though a slow process, it was work in progress.

The Leader added that such exploitation was masked and hidden where the young people themselves were seen as offenders because they had been exploited to commit offences, he queried the role of South Wales Police, as.  whilst there was a crucial role for the authority in terms of safeguarding and social services, there was an equally important role for South Wales Police to make it clear to people / to the perpetrators, as it was children and young people of the borough that are being exploited. As such, it should be regarded as a crime and therefore requires work with South Wales Police to ensure those crimes are detected and criminals brought to justice.

He stated that he would welcome an update in the future from South Wales Police.

The Corporate Director for Social Services and Wellbeing stated that South Wales Police had their structure and support the work done to prevent and to address exploitation. They had created a central resource in the BCU linked to South Wales Police. There is also a Violent Prevention Unit (VPU) that the safeguarding board had made a bid into, that they had pencilled in the resources for BCBC. She said that BCBC was expected to have more strategic resources at a regional level progressing and developing the strategy across CTM. In addition to that the Peripatetic Group Manager had been expertly leading partnerships to make sure that, operationally, BCBC are where they need to be. She suggested that possibly, six months to a year from now, the Social Services directorate re-visited the committee with its partners to update on progress that has been made.

The Leader welcomed this with an additional action point that the committee received a report from partners. Given the seriousness and the scale of the challenge, he believed that six months would be a timely opportunity to measure progress made.

RESOLVED      :   

·        It is recommended that the Committee considers the             

                                report on the current progress of the work around           

                                exploitation and supports the proposal to establish a

                                multi-agency Exploitation Prevention Panel in Bridgend.

·        Committee is to receive a report from partners in 6 months