Extracts from Commons debate on Grooming Gangs - Feb 3
Thursday, 4 February 2021 08:21
Jess Phillips (Birmingham, Yardley) (Lab):...In the last 15 years,
thanks to the bravery of victims of sexual exploitation and
grooming gangs, and also to the bravery of whistleblowers from
police forces, sexual health services, Youth workers and brilliant
campaigners such as my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah
Champion), we better understand this heinous crime. Less than a
decade ago, terms such as child prostitute were bandied around and
children were still considered...Request free trial
(Birmingham, Yardley) (Lab):...In the last 15 years, thanks to the
bravery of victims of sexual exploitation and grooming gangs, and
also to the bravery of whistleblowers from police forces, sexual
health services, Youth workers and brilliant campaigners
such as my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (), we better understand this heinous crime. Less than a
decade ago, terms such as child prostitute were bandied around and
children were still considered troublemakers rather than victims.
The last decade has taught us many things. This crime should never
have been ignored, and these children were failed by pretty much
everyone. Anyone who seeks to use this horror as a political tool,
rather than having a laser-like focus on saving the victims and
bringing to justice the perpetrators, should be ashamed. As the
hon. Member for Barrow and Furness () said really
eloquently, this issue is not a tool to be further exploited...
...If I were to reflect on the whistleblowers in famous
cases, including Sara Rowbotham and others from Rochdale mentioned
by Members today, I would find that it was Youth workers and sexual health
workers who tried to speak up for the hundreds of girls that they
were seeing being abused and exploited, yet over the past 10 years
we have seen huge reductions in the numbers of Youth workers and detached sexual
health practitioners. Years of cutting back these services as if
they were a luxury means that in any strategy the Government write
now, they have to build from no base. A decade after these
scandals, we should not still be in pilot phase after pilot
phase...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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