ALMOST half a million pounds of new funding has been poured in to tackle Child Sexual Exploitation in West Yorkshire.

The latest cash injection, of £440,000, was revealed by the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire, Mark Burns-Williamson, yesterday - on National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day.

Mr Burns-Williamson said: “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation has always been one of my top priorities, which is why I have previously brought partners together to focus and co-ordinate work on CSE and have made an extra £3.5m available to the police for increased capacity to deal with CSE, human trafficking and cyber-crime.

“That includes the additional £1.5 million investment over the next two years to pay for 30 more investigators, including former officers and experts from a child social care background with specialist knowledge of investigations and child protection issues to increase resources immediately to tackle complex cases and support victims.

“I have also recently made available £440,000 from my Partnership Executive Group innovation fund, including £385,000 to the West Yorkshire Directors of Children’s Services Group, for the five districts, to pay for continued co-ordinated working across the county in relation to CSE safeguarding work.

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“This includes a renewed campaign to raise awareness in schools and colleges, money for victim support roles within Children’s Services departments and ensuring an information sharing programme is in place to ensure that districts are always joined up with regards supporting vulnerable young people.

“It will also pay for a Safeguarding Advisor who will make sure all five districts are co-ordinated in tackling CSE and implementing lessons learned from elsewhere."

Staff at the Bradford CSE hub, including police, council officials and charities, yesterday marked the Awareness Day by gathering in Centenary Square to highlight the issue to young people.

Team manager Jill Hudson said they were proactive in dealing with CSE and trying to reach out to all young people in Bradford.

She said: "We are supporting young people who we have identified as at risk. We have meetings three times a week to discuss any new referrals to us. We always review existing cases where concerns have been raised and review packages of support."

Councillor Ralph Berry, who is responsible for children and young people's services, said: "Child sexual exploitation is a dreadful crime and one that needs to be identified and perpetrators pursued and prosecuted.

"This day is the chance to raise awareness of this deplorable crime so people are able to better spot the signs and they know how they can report any concerns they may have.

"We need help from the community as a whole, from parents and carers, to take responsibility for vulnerable young people and help from neighbours to give us third party information if they suspect that child sexual exploitation has or is taking place, or that children are at risk.

"We view the welfare and safety of our young people as the most important responsibility that we have so will do whatever we can and should do to protect them."

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “We have a number of major CSE investigations under way and the force is absolutely committed to working effectively with both our statutory partners and third sector organisations to provide support and wrap around care for victims and in doing so maximise opportunities to bring the perpetrators of such horrendous crimes to justice."

Inquiries are continuing into a major Keighley-based child sex grooming investigation and 26 men remain on bail.