1. Public institutions have a responsibility to assure the quality of their response to child sexual exploitation, as part of accountability for delivering services to children in need of protection. They should actively and regularly evaluate their performance using a range of methods, including:
- seeking the views of children and families to find out their experience of services and identify what improvements are needed;
- case file audits (single and multi-agency); and
- service reviews.
2. Auditing processes are essential for driving improvement in child protection, for ensuring that policies and procedures are effective and, importantly, for ensuring that they are actually being implemented in practice.
3. In England and Wales, there are independent inspectorates for the police, children’s social care and health services:
- Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspects police forces in England and Wales.
- In England, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects local authority children’s social care and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carries out inspections of health services concerned with safeguarding and children in care.
- In Wales, Care Inspectorate Wales, Estyn and Health Inspectorate Wales inspect local authority children’s social care, education and health services respectively.