Telford Child Abuse: Lessons need to be learned from inquiry, says MP

Nationwide lessons must be learned from a probe into the sexual exploitation of children in Telford, ministers have heard.

The inquiry published findings in July, including how more than 1,000 children were abused over a 30-year period amid police and council failings.

A Commons debate followed on Monday, with Lucy Allan, Tory MP for Telford, critical of the organisations.

The Home Office says the failings "demand a swift and strong response".

During the Commons hearing, Ms Allan commended West Mercia Police for apologising for failings but said the local council had not acted similarly - a claim later denied by the authority's leader.

Ms Allan urged the police and council to "work together with our community to implement all the inquiry's recommendations".

She said she hoped the inquiry's results could be "disseminated right across the country".

DUP MP for Strangford, Jim Shannon, said during the debate: "Every police force, every authority, every public body can learn from this report."

Ms Allan told the Commons: "I hope that CSE (child sexual exploitation) victims and survivors in Telford and elsewhere feel confident that they are now being taken seriously.

"Together they have been able to shine a light on this issue and that no-one anywhere is going to be complacent anywhere about CSE in the future."

She said: "I invite [Telford & Wrekin Council] to do as West Mercia Police have done, and acknowledge the shortcomings identified in the report and to apologise to victims, families and the community for these failings."

The inquiry found that had police "done its most basic job" in acting on reports of such crime, unnecessary suffering and deaths of children may have been avoided.

CSE reportedly went "unchecked" because of failures to investigate offenders and protect children amid fears probes into Asian men would "inflame racial tensions".

Telford and Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies said he "on behalf of the council at a cabinet meeting, a day or so after the inquiry report was published, apologised".

He added that he had also apologised on behalf of the council before a "council meeting that very day" and additionally went on BBC Radio Shropshire to do the same.

Mr Davies said: "I'm working closely with victims and survivors in Telford and Wrekin to implement the recommendations of the report.

"I do hope that what we can see over the coming weeks and months is a real determination by everybody concerned, all agencies, elected or otherwise, to implement the report to ensure that lessons are learned."

Home Office minister Amanda Solloway said: "The government is ensuring that lessons are learned right across England and Wales through our strategic national approach.

"We're working across central and local government, law enforcement and the wider criminal justice system, and continue to be recognised as a global leader in addressing this threat.

"Victims and survivors have been failed in the past, and that is absolutely utterly unacceptable."

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