National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group minutes: April 2025

Attendees and apologies

Co-Chairs

• Iona Colvin, Chief Social Work Adviser, Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser
• DCS Sarah Taylor, Head of Public Protection, Police Scotland

Attendees

• Alison Mcintyre, Assistant Director, Barnardos
• Brian Taylor, Deputy Director Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice, Scottish Government
• Deirdre McCormick, Chief Nurse and Head of Public Protection, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Doug Marshall, Pathway to Impact Manager, Childlight
• Fiona Dyer, Director, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice
• Jane Scott, Head of Early Help and Protection, Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS)
• Jennifer Crocket, Chief Education Officer, Argyll and Bute, Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES) representative
• Joanna Barrett, Associated Head of Policy, NSPCC
• Kirsty-Louise Hunt, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Lead, Barnardos
• Laura Bradley, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Laura Caven, Chief Officer, Children and Young People, COSLA
• Lorna Aitken, Senior Education Officer, Education Scotland
• Lyndsey Scott, Regulatory Affairs Advisor, Ofcom
• Michelle McCargo, Renfrewshire Council, Social Work Scotland
• Moira McKinnon, Vice Chair, Child Protection Committee Scotland (CPC Scotland)
• Rhona Robb, Head of Public Protection, Scottish Ambulance Service, representing the Scottish Nursing Child Protection Leadership Group
• Sharon Glasgow, Protecting Children Social Work Policy & Practice Advisor, Social Work Scotland
• Sharon Maciver, Director for Criminal Exploitation , Action for Children
• Stefan Webster, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Ofcom
• Stuart Allardyce, Director of Lucy Faithful Foundation Scotland
• Tam Baillie, Chair, CPC Scotland
• Yvonne Friel, Health Improvement Manager, Public Health Scotland

Apologies

• Professor Alexis Jay
• Alistair Hogg, Head of Practice and Policy, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration
• Carrie Lindsay, Executive Officer, ADES
• Glenn Preston, Scotland Director, OFCOM
• Kathryn Lindsay, Chief Executive, Angus Council, SOLACE representative
• Lynda Fenton, Early Years and Young People Lead, Public Health Scotland
• Mary Glasgow, Chief Executive, Children First
• Mhairi Grant, Vice Chair, CPC Scotland
• Paul Carberry, Chief Executive, Action for Children
• Steph Ross, Policy Lead for Human Trafficking and Exploitation, COPFS

Also in attendance

• CELCIS
• Alison Linton, Child Protection Learning & Development Lead, North Ayrshire Council

Secretariat

• Child Protection Unit, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The new co-chairs introduced themselves and confirmed that they will alternate chairing meetings. All group members then introduced themselves. Apologies were shared.

Minutes of last meeting

No comments were received on the minutes of the last meeting. The minutes were therefore accepted.

Outstanding actions from the last meeting:

• Directors of Public Health have been approached to seek a representative to join the group, action still in progress as we await a response. The Co-chairs suggested that NHS representatives for children’s mental health should also be invited to the group given their role in recovery services and support for victims and their families. There were no objections to this suggestion
• Children First have now joined the group and have signalled that they are content to run a session on engagement with children and young people going forward

Actions:

• secretariat to seek representative from Directors of Public Health to join the group. Since confirmed that Jillian Taylor, NHS Forth Valley will be joining the group on behalf of Directors of Public Health
• secretariat to identify a representative for children’s mental health e.g. NHS service lead

Update on Scottish Government activity

An update was provided by the Child Protection Unit on Scottish Government activity on CSAE since the previous group meeting in December.

• information was provided on the Scottish Government response to the UK Government’s consultation on the Online Safety Act – Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Reporting Regulations, developed with input from Police Scotland. It was highlighted that the UK Government had responded to feedback from Scottish Government/ Police Scotland to ensure a named ‘senior manager’ in each service provider should be accountable for compliance with the reporting regulations. The regulations were introduced in UK Parliament on 20 March 2025 and are expected to come into force in November 2025
• an update was provided on the Scottish Government’s engagement on the UK Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, including work to extend a number of new offences to Scotland related to online CSAE, subject to the Legislative Consent Memorandum Parliamentary process. These include offences on the possession, creation and distribution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools designed to create CSAM, offences on the possession of instructions for offenders known as “paedophile manuals”, and sanctions for moderators of online forums which promote CSAM. Work on measures in the Bill related to child criminal exploitation was also reported, including the update that Scottish Ministers have set out their intention to extend provisions on new offences and preventative civil orders for perpetrators, which will operate alongside existing penalties in Scotland’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation legislation

• Scottish Government activity on awareness raising related to CSAE was also reported, including support for Safer Internet Day 2025 in February, which was accompanied by an update to online safety resources on Parent Club and a dedicated email campaign to parents which reached around 40,000 parents and carers. Scottish Government, Police Scotland and other partners also launched the second phase of the Crimestoppers/Fearless Sextortion Campaign in February which provides advice to parents, carers, professionals and children on this form of abuse. Advice for professionals is available online
• a Ministerial Online Safety Taskforce was announced by the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise in January 2025 in Parliament. More information is available via the official report. The Taskforce will provide oversight, challenge and direction to policy teams across Government through governance of collective activity to prevent harm and protect children and young people online and will be led by Ms Don-Innes and the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown.  We will keep members updated as the work of the Taskforce progresses
• officials also outlined engagement being carried out at the UK and European level with the UK Government, including counterparts in the Home Office CSAE policy unit, and Scottish Government Brussels-based officials who attended an EU Parliament event on CSAE which was hosted by the UK Minister for Safeguarding, Jess Philips MP

Officials presented information on the links between the group and other Scottish Government and external groups with an interest in this issue.

• slides were presented setting out the range of directly and indirectly involved groups. ST highlighted her role as member of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce as an example of how the group’s membership can encourage joined-up working across key policy and practice areas including child criminal exploitation and public protection
• the group welcomed this information and it was agreed that it will be important to avoid duplication with other workstreams/ interest groups. There was discussion around further work to further understand the overlaps between groups

Actions:

• slides to be shared with members for consideration of further work required to ensure appropriate coordination across other groups

North Ayrshire CSAE presentation

A representative of North Ayrshire Council provided an overview of their CSAE Strategy and the activities carried out in support of this, along with progress and challenges in implementation, followed by a discussion with the group. From the discussion it was noted that:

• the greatest impact achieved by the learning programme carried out in support of the strategy was on the workforce
• there are challenges getting the wider public to engage on this difficult issue. It was reported that parental engagement was low and there are few routes to engage directly with children and young people impacted by CSAE

In discussion there was acknowledgement that tackling CSAE presents a highly complex and multifaceted issue for local areas to successfully address and needed strong leadership and sufficient capacity, especially to ensure monitoring and evaluation of outcomes.

Actions:

• North Ayrshire Council to share information on how families were protected and their CSA Strategy awareness online learning course with secretariat to circulate to the group
• CPC Scotland to engage North Ayrshire Council to consider how their learning can be promoted more widely across CPCs

Feedback on priorities

Following discussions at the previous meeting of the group, CELCIS developed a survey to further unpack the initial priorities identified for further exploration and feedback. CELSIS provided a summary analysis of the responses:

• overall there was a range of views shared on the priority of ‘prevention’ which indicated that further discussion is required to ensure there is an agreed approach to this issue. Areas of agreement from respondents included the need for better use of evidence and data to inform action on CSAE, and recognition of the gendered nature of this form of harm
• there was broad consensus on the critical importance of the voice of lived experience with a number of suggestions on potential ways to engage with lived experience representatives. The voice of children within this area was seen as vital as well as the importance of engaging with caregivers
• there was feedback that the current provision of services in recovery is limited and inconsistent, with concerns that much of the current provision is based on adult sexual violence and adapted for children. Individual recovery needs to be based on individual needs, with Health services included as key partners in provision, and a need for improved pathways for children and families to access such services

• there was broad consensus on the priority of “workforce education” including the importance of enhancing awareness and confidence in addressing CSAE, to consider incorporating core safeguarding principles for all forms of exploitation, and making the links with approaches to gender-based violence
• there was broad consensus on the value of taking a public health approach to tackling CSAE, considering whole population needs alongside at risk groups and those who have already experienced abuse. There was feedback that using prevention rather than public health language may be more beneficial, and the need to appropriately consider the cost vs benefit of large scale public health campaigns
• there was broad consensus that the role that Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) education can play in delivering awareness raising activities, and the need to incorporate action on Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) into any approach. However it was also noted that children should not be responsible for keeping themselves safe, and that engagement with parents/carers is key

Group discussion

The group were invited to give their views on whether there were any other areas of priority that should be considered at this stage and whether there was a shared understanding of what we mean by prevention.

• it was highlighted that prevention can be framed as primary (universal services), secondary (at risk) and tertiary (survivor recovery) and the group should consider what this means for different target groups - for children, parents, perpetrators, those at risk, situations and spaces. Key to this is to take responsibility away from children to keep themselves safe, and to consider approaches such as contextual safeguarding, the development of safe spaces, and how to target effectively where abuse happens

• it was agreed there was a need to consider the skills of the workforce, putting in place awareness raising for all and training to meet differing needs that is both theoretical and practical. There was also discussion of the need to consider how to put in place appropriate learning supports for a less experienced workforce, whether there is a need to put in place accreditation requirements, and to consider aligning training to statutory guidance to create a more consistent approach nationally
• it was noted that training is a national issue and that the group should consider how it could promote a national training programme targeted towards relevant staff. IC stated that the National Public Protection Leadership Group (NPPLG) have commissioned IRISS to carry out a survey of Public Protection training at the locality level which could help to inform the picture of CSAE training needs going forward
• there was discussion of how RHSP resources could be further enhanced with more direct messaging on CSAE, but that delivery relies on education staff to feel confident to recognise, respond and engage with children and young people and families. There was discussion of the opportunity to enhance the messaging in the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), whilst noting CfE does not mandate any aspects of learning. There was comment that what is more important is to ensure consistent language and approaches to support all children facing harm
• there was agreement across the group that there is a need for better data to understand what is happening in shaping priorities. Some of the data gaps include how much CSA occurs in families, communities, online and organisational settings. It was noted that there is victimisation data in England and Wales that can give an indicative picture at the local level, as well as other sources including NSPCC, ChildLight, and Police Scotland data on prevalence figures. It was noted that there is data improvement work underway across Police Scotland and that the Scottish Government’s Child Protection Data Group could also play a role in helping to consider trends and data to help inform the priorities and activities for the group
• there was discussion of the England and Wales Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and how we can draw on recommendations in a Scottish context. There was an agreed action for the group to produce a benchmarking paper considering the IICSA recommendations in the Scottish context
• there was a suggestion to look at prevention of perpetration at a future meeting in recognition that better understanding of individuals who offend is still at an early stage and deterrence and disruption in community based campaigns have not had as big an impact as expected. This could form a part of the data deep dive work
• it was noted that there are broader issues around the capacity of social services’ ability to meet the needs for children, young people and non-abusing parents as well as challenges in ensuring a coordinated approach between mental health and social work services. It was highlighted that the Bairn’s Hoose strategy attempts to deal with the fractured nature of recovery, and it was suggested that a future meeting of the group could include a focus on the progress of the Bairn’s Hoose Pathfinder work

Actions:

• CELCIS to carry out further work via correspondence with the group on the approach to engaging people with lived experience in its work
• group to produce a benchmarking paper considering the IICSA recommendations in a Scottish context

Co-chair summary and next steps

The co-chairs summarised the discussions from the meeting and agreed the following with the group:

• the work of the group could be considered within an overarching priority of prevention which could be developed into a framework for the group’s activity going forward
• there is a key challenge around data and a need to assess what information is available through existing partners and sources, to provide a better understanding of who is being abused and where abuse is taking place
• work is already underway in relation to workforce needs, and it will be important to capture what activity is already in train e.g. the NPPLG work on training. The next step for this priority is for the group to consider exactly what outcomes it is seeking for the workforce, and how we can learn from existing approaches and promote best practice e.g. building on the learnings and experience of North Ayrshire

• the group must consider the survivor voice and agree what forums are already in place or are required to deliver this engagement
• the group had previously agreed an approach of ‘deep dives’ to progress these priorities, and proposals will be developed based on today’s discussions
• it was confirmed that the date of the next meeting will be 10 June

Action:

• secretariat to develop draft framework and circulate to group for feedback
• secretariat to engage with the group to develop deep dive workshops on the priority workstreams, which will include consideration of data sources, existing training and gaps, and how to reflect the survivor/ at risk voice