THE battle against child sexual exploitation (CSE) stepped up a gear as police looked into how they crackdown on the issue.

Partners from local councils, trading standards, schools, the NHS, children’s charities and other agencies have been working in conjunction with police to focus on prevention, awareness, enforcement and engagement with local communities.

The week of activities was kicked off on Monday with a conference in Blackburn hosted by Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

At the conference a toolkit aimed at teachers and youth workers, was launched to help tackle child sexual exploitation.

Speaking at the conference, Assistant Chief Constable Tim Jacques, said: “We need to spot the signs of CSE and have confidence to know what to do and when to step in, by working together we can support the most vulnerable members of our society.”

A series of workshops also took place exploring how the police deal with and investigate reports of missing people and the national charity PACE (Parents against Child Exploitation) held an event for professionals who support families affected by child sexual exploitation.

On Wednesday, the police’s annual Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Conference took place in Blackpool. The theme of the day was education and prevention and the speakers came from a variety of specialist charities and agencies dedicated to prevention and improving outcomes for victims of abuse.

Lots more work has taken place by local child sexual exploitation teams across the county, including visiting schools, supermarkets and GP surgeries.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, Lancashire police received 1,814 child sexual exploitation referrals and 843 crimes related to child sexual exploitation were recorded.

Child sexual exploitation is child abuse. It is complex and can manifest itself in different ways but essentially it involves children and young people being coerced into performing sexual acts on their abuser or others. Often this may be in return for some kind of reward, for example, accommodation, drugs or other gifts but many are forced into sex out of fear.

Child sexual exploitation can also occur without physical contact for example when children are groomed; post sexual images of themselves online or are tempted by someone online to meet in the real world. These types of crimes are increasing nationally as well as in Lancashire.

Anyone concerned about a young person should call police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.