Telford CSE : MP says council response is inadequate

Telford Council said it had detailed its progress in implementing recommendations

An MP has accused a council which was the centre of a child sexual exploitation inquiry of failing to carry out meaningful change.

Dozens of recommendations for Telford and Wrekin Council were set out after an inquiry concluded 1,000 children had been abused in Telford since the 1980s.

Telford's Conservative MP Lucy Allan said its response had been "inadequate".

The Labour-led council said it had detailed its progress.

In an update to the independent inquiry report, which was published in 2022, the council said it remained "cautiously confident" about changes it had made.

It said it was "making solid progress" across the 29 recommendations and 82 actions it has sole responsibility for.

Ms Allan said the council's response to an independent inquiry had been inadequate

However, Ms Allan said it was only after pressure from media outlets that [the authority] published comment on their website.

"As Telford's elected member of Parliament, I have received no briefing nor any other information to allow me to scrutinise the work of the council.

"This leads me and victims to fear that no lessons will be learned from this excellent inquiry report," she said.

The council said it had published papers detailing the current position around CSE in the borough and progress made on its website.

Many of the recommendations it has implemented relate to taxi-licensing and the night-time economy, education, children's services and the management of complaints around CSE, it said.

In 2022, Inquiry chair Tom Crowther KC detailed 47 recommendations and 148 actions for organisations including the council, police and health providers.

He said obvious evidence of child sex crimes had been ignored for generations and more than 1,000 girls had been abused.

The abuse was ongoing in the town, he concluded.

The council said it was aiming to invite Mr Crowther back to the town by the end of the year to consider the progress made.