Hansard

The Public Petitions Committee’s role, in my view, is to shine a light into the dark corners of Scotland, and there can be no darker corner than child sexual exploitation. The committee’s inquiry concluded with 28 powerful and significant recommendations. I hope that, in time, the Scottish Government will accept them all and make a contribution to better and more co-ordinated practice by professionals across Scotland. If we save one child from sexual exploitation, the inquiry will have been worth doing. The evidence that was given to us over the past 10 months was occasionally harrowing and sometimes distressing, but the committee did not flinch from its task just because it was difficult.

My thanks go to Barnardo’s, staff from which are in the gallery this afternoon, for lodging the petition and for its consistently high levels of co-operation and support. I also place on record my personal thanks to all the committee members for their contributions, and particularly to Chic Brodie, the deputy convener, who chaired two evidence sessions for me following my Achilles injury last year. Anne Peat and her team of clerks were first class, and many thanks go to them all. I also put on record the committee’s thanks to our adviser, Sarah Nelson, who provided valuable direction and insight as a result of her many years of research in the field. The committee wishes her well with future projects.

This is the committee’s first inquiry report in this parliamentary session. I welcome the opportunity today to highlight our work, the evidence that we heard and our findings.

I will explain a little about the background to the inquiry. I have heard it said that the Public Petitions Committee does not do inquiries, but inquiries are exactly what the committee does day in and day out. We have mini-inquiries on the back of nearly every public petition that is lodged. However, the committee’s investigation into tackling child sexual exploitation was a longer and more in-depth inquiry. Our work culminated in the publication of a report that contains a number of recommendations for action. I look forward to hearing the minister’s responses later.

The subject warranted a more in-depth approach. I understand that it straddles a number of subject committee remits but, given those committees’ legislative loads, we decided to undertake the inquiry ourselves. The committee’s work started with the petition that Barnardo’s Scotland lodged in July 2011. Barnardo’s urged the Scottish Government to commission new research into the nature and scope of child sexual exploitation in Scotland and called for new, dedicated Scottish Government guidelines.

When we received the petition, Barnardo’s told the committee that it was seriously concerned that the true nature and scale of CSE in Scotland were not known and that CSE was on the increase. It saw a pressing need to carry out research in Scotland to assess the prevalence of CSE, along the lines of research that has been done in England. Barnardo’s had been in dialogue with the Scottish Government, but it told us that it had received no commitment to take action.

The feeling was that, in times of economic pressures, local authorities would find it difficult to justify additional spending to provide services to support victims of child sexual exploitation without having clear and robust evidence of the scale of the problem. It was felt that research was needed to provide the clear evidence that is required.

The guidelines that are in place date back to 2003. They focus mainly on young people who have run away from home or who have been exploited through becoming involved in prostitution. They do not take account of the modern reality of young people’s use of technology and the risks that they can face from online grooming and social networking sites. Not just runaways and children who have been drawn into prostitution are at risk of sexual exploitation; sadly, all our children are at risk. The risks are not always from older people; children’s peers can just as easily be the perpetrators.

The guidance needs to be updated to recognise that. We are pleased that, as a result of the committee’s interest, the Scottish Government is taking steps to update the material. We also welcome the fact that the minister commissioned the University of Bedfordshire to do preliminary research work in Scotland. That research assessed the information that is available on the prevalence in Scotland by looking at the existing statistical base, and soundings were taken from professionals on the extent and nature of CSE in Scotland.

When that research became available, it confirmed to the committee the point that tackling child sexual exploitation needs to be given much higher priority in Scotland. The committee decided to move the issue up the agenda by conducting its own inquiry and calling for evidence. We agreed a specific remit for our inquiry. The committee was aware of work that was being done elsewhere and did not want to duplicate that. We agreed to establish the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in Scotland.

Our first call for evidence was aimed at getting the views of service providers working in the field, often in the third sector, and of service users—the young people. We posed a number of specific questions. That approach worked well and we received powerful evidence and accounts from across Scotland from young people who had found themselves victims.

I will highlight two anonymised case studies. A 28-year-old female from Fife told us that her exploitation began when she was just 12 or 13, when peers pressured her into sexual activity and she was given drugs and alcohol in exchange for sexual favours. She said that counselling had been helpful but that better awareness is required. She pointed out that, in her experience, exploitation among peers is common—particularly among young girls—and that more needs to be done in schools to educate young people and enable them to be more resilient.

The second case study was about James, who was 15. He comes from a chaotic home and identifies himself as gay. His mother had significant mental health difficulties and attempted suicide, occasionally in James’s presence. James experienced violence at the hands of his mother’s partners and witnessed domestic violence. After a serious incident, he was taken into a local authority children’s home.

James is shy and he began to make contact with men through social networking and dating sites. He initially lied about his age but was always honest when he met anyone. All the men he met were adults in the age range of 20 to 45, and all were aware of James’s real age.

Because of his early life experience, James had difficulties with assessing risk and judging character, so he was vulnerable to being groomed. He was raped and contracted sexually transmitted infections that led to his hospitalisation. That further damaged his self-esteem and increased his vulnerability.

James is now receiving support to help him to recognise and build positive relationships, and to reduce his feelings of isolation and inadequacy.

Those are two of the many young people’s accounts that the committee received. I urge all members to read the other testimonies that we received. For the avoidance of doubt, the accounts all come from Scottish young people. The experiences that they told us about and the crimes that were committed against them all happened here in Scotland.

One of the deficiencies with the existing research is that very little of the evidence in the public domain comes from young people themselves. That is clearly not because it does not exist; it is out there. The organisations and bodies, mostly from the third sector, pick up the pieces by providing counselling, support, and practical assistance, but hearing from young people was a vital part of the committee’s inquiry. However, although sadly there is no shortage of young people who have been sexually exploited in Scotland, the young people themselves were understandably reluctant to come forward to speak to us. The agencies that we enlisted to assist us were keen to help, but for understandable reasons such as shame, embarrassment, fear or a desire to forget, young people were not willing to be in direct contact with us. The case studies that we received were all anonymised and provided by the service providers. I record my thanks to them for helping us to get the voices of young people out there and into the chamber this afternoon.

The second stage of evidence gathering was directed more at statutory bodies. We also asked them a series of specific questions. By doing that, we were able to ensure that the evidence that we received directly addressed the issues that we had identified in the inquiry remit as our priority.

We received 38 written submissions, all of which provided considered views. It was notable that a number of identical issues arose time after time. The first one that I will talk about is the definition of child sexual exploitation. No one in the chamber today can have failed to have heard about some of the ways in which children can be sexually exploited. We only have to pick up a newspaper, or turn on the radio or the television to hear about another case that has come to light in which impressionable young people have been sexually exploited.

I should emphasise that it is not just girls who are exploited. Boys have also been groomed by older people, gangs or groups, or have been befriended by peers who have ended up exploiting them sexually.

Most of the recently reported cases have been in England, and it is shocking to hear the details, some of which are only now coming to light. It is important that the lessons from such cases are learned regardless of where they come from, be it England, Northern Ireland or elsewhere.