Safeguarding children and young people from sexual exploitation, gang-association and associated vulnerabilities: a briefing for Inspectorates

This briefing has been designed to inform the development of the Joint Targeted Area Inspections into child sexual exploitation by Ofsted, HMIC, HMIP and the CQC. It has been updated from an original briefing published on CSE for inspection in 2016, to include contemporary key messages from The International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence’ (IC) at the University of Bedfordshire, and provide more detailed comment on gang-association and criminal exploitation. Although this briefing has a particular focus on inspecting responses to child sexual exploitation (CSE), gang-association and other forms of child sexual abuse (CSA), it also considers associated vulnerabilities - such as being missing from home or education – which are important for safeguarding in adolescence more broadly.