West Yorkshire Police has made improvements to how it protects children, however there are still some areas of concern according to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)
As part of a rolling programme of child protection inspections of all police forces in England and Wales, HMIC published an initial report in August 2014, on the child protection work of West Yorkshire Police. This found that there were areas of concern that meant children were not receiving the service they deserve, although the force was clearly committed to improving its child protection work.
HMIC carried out a post-inspection review in August 2015, and today published its findings, there was praise for:
- a continued commitment to improving outcomes for children who are at risk from harm, with evidence of some positive developments;
- the force had significantly increased the number of officers and staff in the public protection units;
- the force had established multi-agency safeguarding hubs with partner agencies;
- the force had established child sexual exploitation teams to investigate allegations of non-recent sexual abuse.
However, inspectors were concerned to find:
- recording standards remained very poor;
- children continued to be detained unnecessarily in police custody;
- there were delays in the provision of specialist medical examinations of children;
- important information about children was not always available to frontline officers; and
- the force was not recording the views of children in child protection matters
HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said:
“Despite these improvements however, there are some important areas the force still isn’t getting right.”
West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Mark Burns-Williamson, (pictured) said: "As PCC I understand there is a gap in the provision of services across West Yorkshire, in particular for children, and have already commissioned a research project 'A Voice for Young Victims of Crime' to look at to inform what more needs to be done to support young victims of sexual violence and other serious crimes.”
"The safeguarding of children is all of our responsibility and it is never acceptable for any child to be failed by the agencies that are there to support them. As PCC I will be continue to hold the Chief Constable to account for the safeguarding of children across West Yorkshire."
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