Oldham Liberal Democrats have discovered that, despite Oldham Council’s and Greater Manchester Police’s assurances that processes to deal with Child Sexual Exploitation have changed extensively, they have also confirmed that no disciplinary actions have so far been taken with any staff still employed who took part in the failures described in the report.
The recent Assurance Review into historic CSE in Oldham found that both GMP and Oldham Council had failed numerous children who were suffering horrific abuse. Twelve year old Sophie was sexually abused multiple times over multiple occasions and many of the incidents were known to GMP and Council staff who did not respond appropriately.
Both GMP and Oldham Council have confirmed that, whilst many of the staff involved have either left or retired, no remaining staff have either been investigated or disciplined. GMP have confirmed that they are recruiting a new head of their Professional Services Branch who will investigate any potential misconduct, but that no investigations have taken place to date.
Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: “We’ve questioned Council & GMP further on their response to the Assurance report. We want to know that processes have changed. But we also want to know that, if there are any staff left who were involved in these failures, they are investigated and disciplinary action taken where appropriate.”
He added: “I’m so disappointed – both Council and Andy Burnham should have been all over this. Responses to CSE are delivered by both processes and people. Whilst it looks like a lot of work is going on into changing processes, it’s wrong to ignore any people who were involved. I’m calling on both to GMP and the Council to investigate fully any remaining staff – I’m not sure how we’re all meant to have confidence without this simple step.”