GMP and the Council are promising victims and survivors of child sexual abuse ‘we’re ready when you are, and we’ll walk alongside you’.

Yesterday, we brought together key partners, agencies, and subject matter experts to share valuable insights into how we can collectively improve and strengthen our response to child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester, ensuring best practices and effective collaboration are adopted across the whole force for all our communities to benefit from. 

Events like this reflect the range of activity involved in the complex but absolutely vital work we do with partners, to ensure that you, and our young people, are protected from harm.

Since the formation of Project Phoenix in 2012, which pioneered partnership collaboration, GMP and the City Council have put a renewed focus on working in an effective partnership to ensure the delivery of outstanding service to victims and survivors. This was refined by the establishment of the Complex Safeguarding Hub in 2018 which co-locates key agencies, the launch of Operation Green Jacket in 2019, and the publication of ‘An assurance review of Operation Augusta’ in 2020. 

As a partnership, we are fully committed to protecting young people from harm and supporting them when they need our help the most. By co-locating specially trained detectives and health and social care services, we have developed a comprehensive understanding of how each agency can contribute to our fight against child sexual exploitation, and ensure we are well-positioned to use our collective powers to yield positive results sooner. Our proactive teams focus on closing gateways to exploitation by identifying and engaging with vulnerable young people to prevent harm and stop would-be offenders in their tracks.

Under Operation Green Jacket, which is investigating offending against vulnerable young people in the South Manchester area in the early 2000s – and has, so far, made 56 arrests, GMP’s Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT) and the City Council collaborate to identify and trace victims and suspects; safeguard and support survivors; and relentlessly pursue offenders.

Whilst criminal justice outcomes are one objective, the overarching aim is to ensure victims and survivors are offered the support they want or need; to help them make informed decisions about their next steps; and to take those steps when they feel they are ready to do so.

The partnership also regularly meets with the National Police Chief Council’s Hydrant Programme (Operation Hydrant) and the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) to ensure that the service delivered to victims and survivors is reflective of nationally recognised best practices.

ACC Sarah Jackson said, “What we have learnt through Operation Green Jacket, and from our continued work to combat child sexual exploitation in the city centre, is now cascading across our teams in Greater Manchester.

“In recent years, we’ve developed a robust framework, introduced district safeguarding hubs, and our relationships with partners, and the ways we work together, are going from strength to strength.

“The strength of these relationships not only elevates Greater Manchester as having one of the best responses to this issue, but also means that more victims are having their voices heard.

“Only through transparency and thorough review can we truly learn from the past, and I believe we have done that. I have full confidence in our teams of dedicated and passionate officers and staff who are all working incredibly hard to get justice for what victims have experienced.”

Detective Chief Inspector Zed Ali, of our CSE Major Incident Team, said: “As a partnership, we have done a great deal of learning since the early 2000s and, in fact, since 2012. We committed to learning from the past and to putting victims and survivors at the centre of our investigations - so we developed comprehensive victim engagement strategies, which are considerate of the traumatic impact these crimes can have in both the short and long term.

“Before contact is made with a survivor, a multi-agency team – including subject matter experts - carefully considers what each agency knows about the individual to ensure they are offered a relevant package of support from the outset. Some choose to engage with the investigation immediately, whilst others are unsure or feel unable to at that time – in these cases, we work with them to agree next steps, but our message is always that we’re ready when they are, that they’ll be listened to, and that they’ll be taken seriously.”

Paul Marshall, Manchester City Council’s Strategic Director for Children’s Services and Education, said: “We know that when child sexual exploitation, or grooming, first came to the fore in the early 2000s it was a national issue which was not fully understood. We also know from the numerous reviews that have taken place in recent years, that more could and should have been done to protect many children.

These reviews tell us the actions of agencies were too reactive and reliant on children making complaints.  Professionals didn’t take the time and effort to understand the experiences of children or to build a trusted relationship with them and agencies did not work well enough together.

“We have learnt so much since then, individually and collectively, and that learning has transformed our approach to the exploitation of children – from the structures we operate within to the way we support and listen to children and young people.

We actively use information, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to enable staff to go looking for problems rather than waiting for a problem to emerge, whilst at the same time across services promote and encourage staff to develop a trusted relationship with young people so they know we are there for them.

“This conference is about sharing that hard-won knowledge and examples of best practice. But it is also a reminder that we can never drop our guard and must always strive to keep improving.”