Hansard

I am especially pleased to participate in the debate, as I am a member of the Public Petitions Committee that produced the report on tackling child sexual exploitation.

As fellow members of the committee are well aware, it took more than 10 months of evidence taking to produce the report, the origins of which can be traced away back to July 2011, when the committee received a petition from Barnardo’s Scotland calling for new research into the nature and scope of child sexual exploitation in Scotland and new Scottish Government guidelines to combat that problem.

On hearing initial and preliminary evidence—together with evidence from the Minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell—members of the committee all felt that it was essential that an inquiry into the issues surrounding child sexual exploitation be undertaken.

At the onset of the inquiry, committee members became aware that a number of other agencies had initiated working groups to investigate child sexual exploitation. It was important that we did not duplicate that work or overlap that activity but instead complemented and enhanced each investigation by setting clear terms, which we did. That enabled us to come up with 28 recommendations.

Having set the scene, I will turn my attention to the findings of the committee with regard to tackling child sexual exploitation in Scotland. In particular, I will focus on three areas in the report: the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in Scotland, the vulnerabilities of young people, and the socialisation of young people with special regard to early intervention.

On the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in Scotland, the committee found that, although the current definition of child sexual exploitation was deemed to be helpful by individuals and agencies and was seen as particularly important with regard to raising awareness and understanding of the issue, there were some reservations about it. The committee made a number of recommendations in that regard, which included the Scottish Government giving high priority to ensuring that high-quality data collection tools that would supply vital information on the prevalence and nature of CSE in Scotland could be identified, standardised, and rolled out across Scotland. Such an approach would provide information that is necessary to inform a co-ordinated strategy for tackling and preventing child sexual exploitation and supporting victims. We would not need to start from scratch: the committee heard from Sheila Taylor MBE and Cheryl Stevens of the national working group for sexually exploited children and young people, and from the Forth valley child protection committee pilot study, both of which groups have existing data collection tools.

On the issue of the vulnerabilities of young people, it would be true to say that all children and young people are vulnerable to some extent, no matter how well they are nurtured and supported by their family and schools. However, within Scottish society, there is a group of children and young people who are particularly vulnerable: those who are in the care system. As a consequence, it is of particular importance that the committee’s recommendations with regard to children and young people in the care system are taken forward as a high priority.

On the issue of socialisation, as a mother of three children—two of whom are teenagers and the third of whom is in primary school—I cannot emphasise enough the vital role that education programmes can play in making children aware of the dangers and pitfalls that exist, especially in this era of instant global communication. As other members have noted, the use and misuse of social networking is a hugely worrying concern and is an issue that should be tackled. That is why there is a need for the Scottish Government to address the committee’s recommendations around the socialisation of young people and early intervention.

I wish to draw the chamber’s attention to the vital role that education in its broadest sense—I include training in this regard—can play in tackling and preventing child sexual exploitation and supporting the victims.

I cannot overstate the importance of the committee’s overarching recommendation, which is that the Scottish Government should develop a national strategy for tackling child sexual exploitation. Such a national strategy would provide a framework for a co-ordinated national approach, which would have a tripartite goal of tackling CSE, preventing CSE and supporting victims of CSE. Only by having such an approach can the issues that I highlighted be addressed, which would enable us to create a society that has at its core the wellbeing of its children and young people and the aim of protecting them from the scourge of child sexual exploitation.