Scottish Leader seeks Child Protection.

Gray seeks extra child protection
(UKPA) – 1 day ago

Efforts to protect children from sexual predators should be increased and research to address the issue should be commissioned, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has said.

Children's charity Barnardo's welcomed the call, which it said has been supported across the political spectrum.

Mr Gray said: "You can judge a society on the way it cares for its most vulnerable members, and we certainly need to do more to protect children from sexual predators.

"Often abuse happens in the home environment but with the expansion of the internet, increasingly we are seeing organised groups attempting to get access to children."

He said a Labour Scottish Government would ensure research was carried out, and that guidance on the issue was updated to address "legal changes and the impact of the internet".

Martin Crewe, director of Barnardo's Scotland, said the charity worked with more than 1,000 children across the UK in a year - including 92 in Glasgow and 25 in Dundee. He referred to a police operation in Derbyshire where a gang of men were convicted of a catalogue of offences against vulnerable girls who were preyed on and abused.

Mr Crewe added: "Sexual exploitation of children and young people is a shocking crime. Recent events in England have exposed tragic cases of vulnerable girls and boys, craving affection and attention, who are being groomed then used as sexual commodities.

"Many of the young people being abused in this way think it's love - but the perpetrators of this crime know it's business.

"Our services are aware of cases of child sexual exploitation across Scotland. We urgently need research to be conducted to identify the nature and scale of the problem in Scotland, to increase the awareness of sexual exploitation and to offer more effective protection to vulnerable children and young people.

"We have received fantastic support on this issue from right across the political spectrum, and welcome this recent call for action by Scottish Labour."

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