Committee
Education, Children and Young People Committee 25 February 2026 [Draft]
25 Feb 2026 · S6 · Education, Children and Young People Committee
Item of business
Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
Professor Jay
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The point that I made was that we had not resolved how best to become involved and it was a priority for the first meeting of the group, in January of this year. The next meeting is next week and in fact individuals have had a lot of contact with specific groups.As I said before, this is not a single group and should never be considered to be such. There are very specific circumstances in which the abuse occurred, by whom or where or in whatever setting and so on, but it cannot ever be judged as all being the same.I am aware that individual members of the independent group have a lot of contacts with different groups that are relevant to their particular services and so on. However, for the next meeting, next week, we are looking at this as a priority and we are looking at instances of work that I am aware of from south of the border and also in Scotland. It is certainly my view that we have to determine a range of ways to do this. I do not think that it will be very difficult because we already have a network of contacts. However, it is a matter of organising that properly and, as I said before, asking people directly how they want to become involved, because different people want to do different things and we should accommodate that.This is an area in relation to victims and survivors that is very important and it is relevant to the questions you have been asking; there have been quite a number of studies of what we refer to as barriers to disclosure, to find out why victims did not come forward sooner. The responsibility for that should not be with them, ever; it should be with us as to how we organise ourselves. There are many barriers to disclosure, and, indeed, barriers for the individuals themselves. We analysed a lot of this in the public inquiry in England and Wales; I can send you some brief notes on it, if that is of interest.However, it is most important that all professionals concerned understand what the reasons are and how to be more—“approachable” is not the right word, but we must know how to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to make it easy for children and young people to come forward with some trust to talk to somebody, because, by a certain age, they will never trust anyone in officialdom again.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Douglas Ross)
Con
Good morning and welcome to the eighth meeting of the Education, Children and Young People Committee in 2026. Our first item of business is an evidence sessi...
Professor Alexis Jay (National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group)
I will start with the easier part, which is the question about what grooming is. You will be aware that my personal preference is not to use the term “groomi...
The Convener
Con
We might come on to that, but it is a useful scene setter for what we will discuss. Obviously, there will be a statement in the Parliament later today, and t...
Professor Jay
Yes, I do.
The Convener
Con
I will come to you, Mr Naylor. Is the inspectorate partly responsible? You are now part of this review but, prior to that, the inspectorate was there to give...
Craig Naylor (HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland)
That is a very interesting question. If you are asking whether we are responsible for this, no, we are not responsible for it.
The Convener
Con
I understand that point. Could issues have been spotted sooner if the inspectorates were more concentrated on the issue, or do you think that it was impossib...
Craig Naylor
It might be worth explaining the work that we do around children and young people and adults with support needs—I will focus on children because of this comm...
The Convener
Con
Initial child social work assessment meetings in 2023-24, which is just in the past couple of years, suggested that there were 13 cases of organised child se...
Craig Naylor
I do not know what information you are quoting from.
The Convener
Con
Child social work assessment meetings found that there were 13 reported cases of organised child sexual abuse and exploitation identified at those meetings b...
Craig Naylor
Perhaps I did not make it clear: I do not recognise the information that you are talking about, and I do not know which document it has come from. If it is a...
The Convener
Con
I am asking about the number.
Craig Naylor
Can I answer the question?The number seems very low, but on how sexual crime is reported, which is a matter for my colleagues to the right, we did an inspect...
The Convener
Con
Before I move on, you have made it clear that you are staunchly independent of the Government. So that you can get your response on the record, I put it to y...
Craig Naylor
We have to use the infrastructure, which includes information technology systems that are on the Government’s network and buildings that are provided to us, ...
The Convener
Con
My next question is for our Police Scotland colleagues. There is concern that incidents have been missed, whether that relates to how they are reported, reco...
Deputy Chief Constable Bex Smith (Police Scotland)
I will start and add a few thoughts. It is really important to note that we have a multi-agency approach to child abuse. We cannot work alone and we have goo...
The Convener
Con
You have suggested that things have not been investigated appropriately in the past as they would be now. I will not go into the specifics of the case, but I...
Deputy Chief Constable Smith
I do not think that it would be appropriate to talk about individual cases. The convener is aware that we have agreed to meet the family in question. There w...
Detective Chief Superintendent Sarah Taylor (Police Scotland)
I whole-heartedly agree with the deputy chief constable. The important thing is transparency and I appreciate that there will be concerns around how we look ...
The Convener
Con
Professor Jay, when you appeared before our committee in December, you said that the one issue that your group had“not yet properly clarified is engagement w...
Professor Jay
The point that I made was that we had not resolved how best to become involved and it was a priority for the first meeting of the group, in January of this y...
The Convener
Con
Mr Naylor, I was looking at the three phases of work on the review. At what point do survivors feature in that, or is that aspect being covered by Police Sco...
Craig Naylor
We are looking at the processes and how the bodies work together to make sure that, when someone comes forward and reports, they are given the support that t...
The Convener
Con
DCS Taylor, you have touched on some of the interaction that you will have with victims and survivors. Is there anything that you want to add?
Detective Chief Superintendent Taylor
Obviously, every survivor is unique. Each one has their own experiences. I want to give the reassurance that we will tailor our approach to the individual’s ...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. We go to Bill Kidd.
Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
SNP
This is an incredibly serious issue. What concerns are there about cross-border group-based child sexual abuse, and how are those concerns already being addr...
Professor Jay
Others will probably have a more technical answer, but I will tell you what I know from my experience, although it is not backed up with figures. I am aware ...