More to be done to prevent child sexual abuse

Chief Constable and National Police Chief's Council Lead Child Protection and Abuse Investigation, Simon Bailey, said:

"The scale of abuse identified within the OCC report is horrific and it confirms my belief that the police service has been dealing with the tip of the iceberg. There is no doubt in my mind that as a service we are improving our response to all forms of child sexual abuse, however, I recognise that we have to do a lot more to ensure that we get it right every time and that includes securing the best evidence from victims.

"We will make those improvements, but my challenge to every organisation involved in caring for children is that by the time a child reports sexual abuse the damage has been done and we must do more to stop the damage in the first place. If we are to do this there has to be a fundamental rethink about partnership working which ensures that the indicators that abuse might be taking place are identified, shared and acted upon. A system which relies on the child reporting abuse, will only respond to a fraction of the abuse taking place."