Keeping kids safe: Children's Commissioner report

The Children's Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, has published an in-depth report looking at children in England who are members of gangs: 'Keeping kids safe: Improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation'. The Commissioner hosted a summit last Thursday bringing together police and crime commissioners, senior police officers and chairs of local safeguarding boards to ask how these agencies plan to keep children involved in gangs safe.

An estimated 27,000 children in England, some as young as ten, identify as a gang member, and 34,000 children with a connection to a gang member experienced serious violence in the last year.  Official statistics published in the report show that self-reported gang members aged 10-15 were 5.5 times more likely to have been excluded or suspended in the past year, and it says many parents described exclusion as a “trigger point”, which pushed their children from some involvement into full gang membership. 

Recognising the evidence that seems to suggest a link between school exclusions and gang involvement, the report recommends that the Department for Education responds to the forthcoming review on exclusions “by ensuring that schools realise the safeguarding implications of excluding children, and are held responsible for these”. 

There is also an emphasis on the early years, with one recommendation advising there needs to be a "clear target" to reduce the number of children starting school with very low levels of development, as well as a national plan to improve the early identification of special educational needs.

The Commissioner also urges that a commitment is made to replacing the Troubled Families programme, due to end in 2020, as well as a "long-term family-based approach to supporting children at risk of gang involvement".

Read the full report here.