Rochdale abuse 'not exceptional'

A review by the Rochdale Safeguarding Children Board has found that the "patchy training" of front line staff led to "deficiencies" in the way complaints were treated. It says social workers wrongly believed that some of the victims were mature enough to make their own decisions about sex and did not need any additional help.

In May, nine men were jailed for repeatedly abusing five girls who were in care in the town.

The former children's minister Tim Loughton said that the Rochdale abuse was "not an exceptional set of circumstances".

And he told The World At One's Shaun Ley: "I hope that this had been a very severe wakeup call for Rochdale and others in similar situations that they have got to take child sexual exploitation seriously and have proper joined up action plans with local agencies to make sure it doesn't happen again on this level."