The SNP faces scrutiny over its inaction against child grooming gangs in Scotland
Glasgow: The SNP Government is under fire for not doing enough about child grooming gangs. There are serious questions about their response to this issue.
Sir Keir Starmer is feeling the heat too. He’s being pushed to start a public inquiry into the failures that let these gangs thrive in various towns and cities across England.
A recent investigation by the Daily Express shows that the problem isn’t just in England. It seems Scottish ministers have ignored several warnings and recommendations about child sexual exploitation.
Back in October 2020, Barnardo’s and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration released a national report on child sexual exploitation in Scotland. It was the first of its kind.
This two-year study focused on kids in care, but Barnardo’s pointed out that they couldn’t really know how widespread the issue was in the general population.
The report urged the Scottish Government to invest in a nationwide study to understand the scale of the problem urgently. It’s pretty alarming that they haven’t acted on this yet.
In Scotland, they found cases of child sexual exploitation in 27 out of 32 council areas. The methods used by abusers varied, with some targeting kids in urban areas and others in rural spots.
Researchers looked at 213 kids in care and found that 74 were victims or likely victims of exploitation. The youngest was just 11 years old, which is heartbreaking.
What’s even more troubling is that victim-blaming is common in the system. There are too many references to “risky sexual behavior” when discussing children being abused by adults.
The report made 15 recommendations for the Scottish Government and other agencies, stressing that SNP ministers need to take responsibility.
Despite calls to stop victim-blaming, the Scottish Government is still telling police and social workers to watch for “harmful sexual behavior” among kids. This includes abuse in gang contexts.
In April 2024, new guidance stated that a young person having sex with adults should be seen as a “red flag” for potential abuse. It’s a worrying sign of how serious the situation is.
Shockingly, the National Child Sexual Exploitation Group was disbanded after its final report in July 2020. This group was supposed to help eliminate child exploitation in Scotland.
The final report acknowledged that child abuse in Scotland is likely similar to the rest of the UK. It included 44 actions for the government to take, but it seems not much has happened since then.
The Express has been covering this issue for years, especially after two major police investigations into grooming gangs in Glasgow.
Operation Cotswold, which started in 2011, identified at least 26 victims. It later expanded into Operation Dash, involving multiple councils and health boards.
While 27 men were reported to the Crown Office, there hasn’t been a large-scale trial for multiple offenders. It’s frustrating to see so little accountability.
The only named perpetrator was an Afghan asylum seeker who was jailed for six years in 2014 for preying on young girls. It’s just one case among many.
In 2014, the Express revealed that child protection officials had blocked a significant case review into the abuse uncovered by detectives. A year later, a document warned that grooming gang abuse was common in Glasgow.
In 2020, another police investigation into ethnic minority grooming gangs in Glasgow was revealed, but again, no large-scale trial took place.
It’s disheartening to see that despite the evidence, action has been minimal. The Scottish Government is now being urged to explain what they’ve done since the recommendations were made.
Child sexual exploitation has been flagged at 635 hearings for kids on the Child Protection Register since 2016. The numbers peaked in 2019 and 2021, showing that the problem is ongoing.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr is planning to ask a series of questions in Parliament. He emphasizes that the SNP must act on the recommendations to protect vulnerable children.
The Scottish Government claims they recognize the impact of child sexual abuse and are working to protect children. They’ve recently set up a new strategic group to tackle this issue.
It’s a complex situation, and many are watching closely to see if real change will happen.
