Primary pupils to learn dangers of sex groomers as report reveals number of under-12s targeted in Bradford

A total of 23 under-12s are among 616 children who have been referred to the district's dedicated child sexual exploitation hub since April last year.

And a leading councillor has described how the harrowing accounts given by child sex victims keeps him awake at night.

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for social care, said there was an "iron will" within the Council to tackle child abuse, whether it was happening now or had happened in the past.

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He said: "We are working to make sure that no-one can possibly say we have not been upfront about the challenge in what we are doing here.

"It is what keeps you awake at night, what goes on - what you hear about in some of these cases."

Bradford Council's executive will meet next week, where councillors are expected to endorse moves to teach more primary-school children how to stay safe from abuse.

A new report by Paul Hill, manager of the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, says while there is already both "targeted and general preventative work" going on with children of primary age, they now want to expand this.

The board is trying to develop a "consistent and sustainable" programme to get important safety messages to older children in every primary school in the district, as they prepare to move up to secondary school.

Cllr Berry said while only a minority of victims were under 12, the authorities were becoming more and more aware that younger children could be at risk from grooming.

Cllr Berry said there was clear evidence that "well-thought-through and responsible programmes" in schools encouraged young victims to come forward and talk to the police, as well as preventing more children from being harmed.

He said it often meant "children are picked up before something terrible has happened".

As part of this drive, Bradford Council has teamed up with other authorities to commission a play aimed at primary-age children.

Greater Manchester-based GW Theatre has been commissioned by authorities in Bradford, Calderdale and the north-west to develop a piece of theatre teaching children about positive relationships, staying safe online and the importance of self-esteem.

GW Theatre is touring Bradford's secondary schools with another play, aimed at 14 and 15-year-olds, called Somebody's Sister, Somebody's Daughter.

Bradford Council provided one-off funding to give all year ten pupils the chance to see the play.

By the time the tour ends, in December, more than 4,500 pupils will have seen the show, with teachers given lesson plans on the topic of sexual exploitation to accompany each performance.

Although the tour was funded as a one-off, some schools have already decided to pay for further performances.

Ian Murch, Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers, said rolling out a programme across primary schools would be harder than at secondary level, as there were more schools.

He also said teachers would have to be given specialist help to deliver age-appropriate lessons.

He said: "There is no getting away from the fact that there is a problem, and it needs to be tackled.

"Obviously, teachers will have a degree of nervousness about this, but so will parents.

"I don't think people would say this is the wrong thing to do, even in a primary school, but clearly you have got to be very careful."

The report also reveals the extent of on-going efforts to bring groomers to justice.

The hub is carrying out 129 separate investigations into child exploitation, either through online grooming or street grooming.

A number of perpetrators have so far been given substantial jail sentences.

And in one case due to be tried soon, 15 defendants from Bradford and Keighley have been charged with the rape or sexual abuse of a girl under 16.

There is also a specific team set up to investigate historic allegations of child sex abuse.

Since April 2014, nine investigations into historic abuse have been started. All nine investigations are still ongoing.

The report also describes a number of common grooming scenarios, the most prominent of which are:

- Children being sexually exploited by their peers;

- Children being directly befriended and groomed by a perpetrator;

- The so-called 'boyfriend/pimp' model, in which a young victim is showered with attention and gifts, but later told they owe the perpetrator money for alcohol, drugs, car rides or gifts, and that they can pay back the debt through sex; and

- The so-called 'party model', where gangs of men organise parties, luring young people in with free drinks, drugs and car rides. They are then "introduced to an exciting environment where sexual promiscuity and violence is normalised".

The Bradford Safeguarding Children Board has now set out an updated nine-point action plan to tackle sexual exploitation.

This includes specific work to tackle "unacceptable attitudes" among teenage boys, after national research highlighted that easily-accessed pornography and inappropriate use of mobile phones was leading boys to develop unhealthy attitudes towards women.

It also includes specific work within the Pakistani community, saying: "Sexual offences against children are committed by people from all communities.

"However there is evidence that a disproportionately high number of perpetrators of street grooming in the Bradford district are males of black or minority ethnic, primarily Pakistani, origin."

The report also says an increasing number of victims of Pakistani origin are coming forward.

It says the board has partnered up with the Bradford Council for Mosques and Keighley Muslim Association to help mosques and madrassas to deliver important safeguarding messages.