County council response to OSCB stocktake report

“We are very pleased that this report recognises the undoubted progress that the county council and its partner agencies are making on tackling child sexual exploitation in Oxfordshire.

“It demonstrates that Oxfordshire has stepped up to the challenge and is among the leading areas nationally for the development of work around CSE, and makes clear that important strides are being made to keep the county’s children safer from this abuse than they were before the Operation Bullfinch investigation.

“That starts with identifying children at risk of exploitation as early as possible through to the protection provided for victims and bringing more abusers to justice.

“We are also pleased the report recognises the determined work carried out in recent years to engage schools and the wider community to play a central role in spotting the signs of sexual exploitation and raising awareness among children and young people themselves. We are working with council-maintained schools, academies, free schools, independent schools and language schools to extend the reach of our safety messages as far as possible.

“Child Sexual Exploitation remains a constant threat, and while the progress made in Oxfordshire has rightly been acknowledged, we also recognise there is further work needed to face down this abhorrent criminality. We accept the recommendations in this report and are now working with our partners to address the issues it raises.”