Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Data Short Life Working Group minutes: February 2026

Attendees and apologies

Chair

•    Alastair McAlpine, Chief Statistician, Scottish Government

Group members in attendance

•    Child Protection Unit Officials, Scottish Government
•    Children and Families Analysis Officials, Scottish Government
•    Justice Analytical Services Officials, Scottish Government
•    Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS)
•    COSLA
•    NHS
•    Education Scotland
•    Scottish Children’s Reporter’s Administration (SCRA)
•    Social Work Scotland
•    NSPCC
•    Improvement Service
•    Barnardo’s 
•    Edinburgh University

Apologies

•    Police Scotland

Secretariat

•    Child Protection Unit, Scottish Government
 

Items and actions

Welcome, introductions and apologies

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies from Police Scotland. New members from NSPCC, Improvement Service, Barnardo’s and Edinburgh University were asked to briefly introduce themselves. 

The chair set out the agenda for the meeting:

• reflections on meetings and discussions since the last meeting at the end of January
• update from the child protection unit officials on the Independent National Review 
• Terms of Reference
• presentation from chair and child protection unit officials on workplan for this group and discussion on each workstream

Reflections from Chair

The chair attended the meeting of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Strategic Group on 28 January 2026 to give an update on the first meeting of this group. The chair shared his reflections from this meeting with the group, highlighted key points which were discussed including; recognising resourcing issues, the need to understand the nature and scale of CSAE in Scotland and the challenges in understanding what is reported and underreported.

The chair also met separately with Professor Alexis Jay, who is chair of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, to discuss the workplan for this subgroup. The chair shared reflections from this meeting and is considering writing to the UK Statistics Authority and the Permanent Secretary of the Office of National Statistics for support in developing improvements using existing data.

National Review of Group-Based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation 

Officials from the Child Protection Unit gave an overview of the recent statement published by the inspectorates which outlines their phased approach to the National Review. 

Members discussed the risks of duplication and the need for our workplan to compliment the work of the inspectorates rather than overlap. The chair suggested a need for communication with the inspectorates as they progress with their National Review. 

Terms of Reference

The revised Terms of Reference were circulated to members in advance of the meeting for their consideration. Members unanimously adopted the Terms of Reference as drafted and presented.

Proposed Workplan

The chair explained that the workplan has been revised and will now take a thematic approach. Members will be asked to contribute to some of the workstreams, and some may be asked to take ownership of specific actions. 

Officials from the Child Protection Unit gave a brief overview of the proposed workplan and the three workstreams:

• analysis of available data on CSAE
• use of data to support prevention and early intervention
• improvement of data capture going forward

Workstream one will aim to provide the best possible snapshot on the current scale and nature of CSAE in Scotland using existing data sets. Workstreams two and three will provide recommendations to improve data on CSAE.

The chair asked for initial thoughts on the proposed workplan. Social Work Scotland members said that it would be helpful to take these to Chief Social Work Officers to get their views. COSLA noted that data in statutory services would not in itself be sufficient to understand the scale of CSAE and suggested that third sector data could be helpful in gaining a more accurate picture. 

The chair explained that we would now go through each workstream in more detail and asked members to share feedback. 

Analysis of available data on CSAE

The chair gave an overview of the first workstream, highlighting the importance of mapping work and the need for members to help us assess what data we have. He also proposed undertaking a sampling exercise to establish a snapshot of the scale of CSAE regionally before expanding to a national scale. The chair noted his intention to seek support to develop the methodology from the Office of National Statistics to create statistics that can be compared to wider UK figures. 

Social Work Scotland suggested that we would need to compare this to the National Review and ensure there is a difference of asks from Local Authorities as there may be concerns that they are being asked to duplicate work. The chair agreed that we will need to ensure that our methodology reduces the burden of asks on partners whilst giving us a robust estimate. 

Barnardo’s highlighted limitations to the data due to workforce confidence and recording issues. The chair suggested that this work would help to identify issues with recording and areas for improvement. Officials from the Child Protection Unit highlighted that there is another subgroup who are looking at workforce confidence in identifying CSAE. 

NHS member agreed that gathering existing data will help us to understand what evidence we do not have. They suggested that the National Sexual Health System (NaSH) may be important to look at as some young people may be engaging with sexual health services but not with any other services.

The chair asked that if any members have other information or services which they think should be considered, can they send this to the secretariat within the next week. 

Use of data to support prevention and early intervention

Officials from the Child Protection Unit gave an overview of this workstream and suggested some potential actions including research to identify risk indicators, learning from good practice out with Scotland, reviewing the UK Department for Education (DfE) report and some modelling. We may need workstream one to be completed before we can undertake some of this work. 

Justice Analytical Services officials said that they would be able to get some characteristics on victims and perpetrators from justice data. 

COSLA highlighted the importance of considering data on perpetrators within this workstream. Child Protection Unit officials flagged that the National Public Protection Leadership Group (NPPLG) also have a workstream on data and there may be some opportunities to join up on perpetrator data. The chair will be meeting with the leads from the NPPLG data workstream soon to discuss how our work links to theirs.

Improvement of data capture going forward

CELCIS gave an overview of the third workstream, highlighting the need to look at other areas we can learn from. 

Barnardo’s suggested that this workstream is essential and will allow us to start using data effectively. 

NSPCC mentioned their Childline data and how this could be used to support this work.

Next steps and close

Members were asked to get in touch with secretariat if there were any actions or workstreams they would like to take forward. 

Members were thanked for their contributions to the meeting and informed that the minutes would be shared with the group before they are published on the Scottish Government’s website. 

The next meeting will take place on 24 March 2026.

Actions

•    chair to consider how to alert the UK Statistics Authority and Permanent Secretary of the Office of National Statistics and request methodological analytical support
•    secretariat to consider engagement with Inspectorates regarding the National Review
•    members to share any further feedback on the workstreams as presented
•    members to consider any existing data or services for workstream one and send to the secretariat by the end of February
•    chair to meet with leads of the NPPLG data workstream to make connections between their work and the work of this group
•    members to contact secretariat if they would like to be involved in leading any of the workstreams