The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, raised five areas of concern about children being groomed for sexual exploitation. His question in the House of Lords was  what steps are being taken to ensure the safety of children, especially of children in the care of local authorities, from being groomed for sexual exploitation. He highlighted:

• local safeguarding children boards often appear not to consider child sexual exploitation as a priority;
• Inadequate training for professionals across the front line, especially those dealing with 16-17 year old victims;
• The inadequacies of current law enforcement and police responses to child sexual exploitation cases;
• The importance of co-ordination and joint working between local authorities and police forces to tackle child sexual exploitation across boundaries;
• For Ministers “to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of children, especially those in the care of local authorities, from being groomed for sexual exploitation. In particular, I hope that the Minister will pay close attention to the link between running away and sexual exploitation. ”
  
  The Hansard report sets out the Bishops’ contribution  together with the ministers’ responses