South Yorkshire Police Abuse Scandal Inspection

10 June 2015, 12:36 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

An independent inspection of South Yorkshire police will investigate whether massive failings over child sexual exploitation happened only in Rotherham or across the whole force.

Police and crime commissioner Alan Billings, who order the review, says he wants it to be fast but thorough.

He’s confirmed it will start in September and last 3 months with the results being published early next year.

It’s almost 10 months since the Jay report found wide scale serious child abuse wasn’t being dealt with in the town.

The themed areas that the review will cover:

Culture

Is the current organisational culture across the four districts a help or hindrance to future openness and transparency?

Effective appropriate leadership

Are SYP leaders effectively driving the fight against child sexual exploitation?

Performance

Has a target-focused recording of crime mentality prevented SYP from effectively tackling child sexual exploitation sooner?

Victim focus

Is the victim at the forefront of all policing decisions within SYP?

Scale

Is the scale of the problem confined to Rotherham, or county-wide?

Partnership working

Do current partnership relationships allow for open and honest discussions to take place, with free exchange of information?

Prosecutions and case-building

Has SYP encouraged case-building against perpetrators of child sexual exploitation, acknowledging the intricacies of information gathering?

Resource management

Does current SYP technology allow for the effective recording and sharing of information and data regarding child sexual exploitation?

Professor John Drew will lead the Independent Review. He trained as a social worker in Sheffield and was the Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board.

Alan Billings said:

 “I want this review to be fast, but thorough and I want a report at the end which satisfies me that South Yorkshire Police has genuinely acknowledged and fully addressed non-recent, as well as present day, occurrences of child sexual exploitation and I want to feel certain that robust plans are in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

“Most of all I want to restore public confidence in South Yorkshire Police. The Force has many hard-working and dedicated officers and members of staff who are tirelessly chasing an end to the sexual exploitation of young people and I need to know that these officers and staff are supported to carry out their duties to the very best of their abilities.”