Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has established to safeguard 16 and 17 year olds who are victims of sexual exploitation.

Tackling child sexual exploitation is a top priority for this Government. Significant progress has been made since the launch of the “Tackling CSE” report in March 2015. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to collaborate across force boundaries, to safeguard children, to share intelligence and to share best practice. All forces are training all police staff to respond to child sexual abuse, including call handlers, PCSOs, police officers, detectives and specialist investigators. And in January we will be launching a new national whistleblowing helpline for any employee - regardless of sector -to report bad practice in relation to child abuse. We have delivered the vast majority of a £7 million funding programme to support non-statutory organisations that have experienced a surge in demand on their services. This funding is to support the victims and survivors of sexual abuse, including children of all ages.