Watch Derbyshire police chief Rachel Swann speak about “vast improvements” needed to the force

An inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published this week showed the force had missed opportunities to safeguard young people at risk of sexual exploitation.

The report gives shocking examples in which police investigations left young people exposed to further risk due to poor information sharing after they were not risk-assessed highly enough.

Inspectors spoke of failings in several areas with regard to children and young people including county lines, the sharing of indecent online images by both adults and fellow children, missing children in care and domestic abuse.

Chief Constable Rachel Swann, speaking about the findings on Monday, said there were “vast improvements that need to be made” and she was “very concerned”.

She said: “There are children there that we need to protect, so it’s vitally important that we take it seriously and that we do something about it - which is what we are doing.

“We’ve immediately reacted to it and put a number of things in place – it’s a very critical report and at the heart of what we do in terms of protecting people.

“It’s a whole-force approach, this isn’t about specialist units - this is about everybody in the organisation recognising the importance of vulnerability and child protection.”

On Monday, as the report was revealed, Derbyshire Police unveiled a raft of measures to tackle the issues raised.

The force’s online investigations team had now been doubled in size - with a new remit to put child safeguarding ahead of criminal justice outcomes.

While its approach to missing young people - particularly those in care - was being changed, ensuring the right level of risk was assigned to vulnerable children.

The report has recommended a number of improvements to be made “immediately” in the following areas:

- Leaders’ endorsement of the need for all departments to take responsibility for child safeguarding

- Missing children procedures

- Police systems used to inform officers responding to domestic abuse incidents

While the following improvements are expected in the next three months:

- Derbyshire Police must engage with partners, reviewing information-sharing practices to ensure vulnerable children are identified at the earliest possible stage

- A review of the forces’s policy and practice for responding to incidents where indecent images of children are present on digital devices

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