Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Councillors want Oldham Council staff to be trained to become ‘eyes and ears’ in the community to help detect instances of child sexual exploitation.
Oldham Council has recently asked all Councillors to complete a mandatory training module into combatting child sexual exploitation. This is being delivered by experts in this field from the renowned Barnardo’s Charity.
Councillor Sykes would like to see similar training made available to Council staff who regularly meet the public in person or speak to residents over the telephone, such as street cleaners, refuse collectors or call centre operatives.
He said: “Although social workers and child care workers would routinely receive such training and would be aware of what signs to look out for, it would be very valuable to have other council staff in front-line roles trained to be our eyes and ears when they are out in the community.”
Councillor Sykes has recently written to the Council’s Chief Executive with this suggestion and since received a positive response.