NWG Where is CSE in 2025?

The NWG are delighted to invite you to our next exciting conference focussing on CSE. We welcome the recent national spotlight on this form of abuse, however, the NWG have been concerned for some time now that CSE was falling off the radar of safeguarding partnerships whilst greater priority was placed on other forms of exploitation. The NWG want to highlight the existence of cross exploitation and exploitation online, so that we respond to all forms.

At an NWG Network event last year, we asked: “Where is CSE in your region?” The most common response was “everywhere”. Yet, data from the Child Sexual Abuse Centre doesn’t reflect this. It’s clear: CSE wasn’t being widely recognised, even though it still devastates lives across the country. It is important to explore CSE more broadly to ensure that victims and survivors from all backgrounds are effectively recognised and supported and that perpetrators, regardless of background, are held to account.

At NWG, we’ve been asking this question - Where is CSE? - across agencies and regions. We’re not here to blame. We know how stretched our frontline colleagues are, especially with rising focus on county lines and youth violence. But CSE hasn’t gone away, and we can’t let it fall off the radar. We are hosting this event in response to demand and requests from our network members and in light of our observations of multi-agency exploitation meetings and our reviews of safeguarding partnership responses to exploitation.

That’s why the NWG and trusted partners are hosting a national conference on Where is CSE now? on the 17th September 2025. In partnership with the CSE Taskforce, Hydrant Programme, the CSA Centre and The Marie Collins Foundation, we’ll be exploring the current landscape, the gaps, and how to re-centre our collective response to child sexual exploitation.

Target audience:

Health, police, education, LA, youth justice, vol sector, community orgs, faith, sport, adult services, community safety partnerships, licensing, housing, legal, children’s social care, strategic leads, youth work, missing leads

Cost: £20 Members, £30 Non-Members

Bio's

Sheila Taylor MBE, CEO

Over 30 years of experience in the voluntary sector empowering young people to achieve against all odds.

23 years of understanding and tackling the issues of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and internal trafficking within the United Kingdom. Previously managed projects working with sexually exploited young people, and young runaways, several years volunteering with the Prince’s Trust and the Guide Association.

In 2010 Sheila was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her work with Sexually Exploited Children. In 2012 she was awarded an Honorary Masters Degree from Derby University.

Jess Phillips MP, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls

Jess Phillips was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office on 9 July 2024. She was elected as the MP for Birmingham Yardley in the general election of July 2024.

Political career

Jess first entered Parliament as the MP for Birmingham Yardley at the 2015 general election. Before becoming an MP, Jess worked for Women’s Aid in the West Midlands developing services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and exploitation.

She was elected to Birmingham City Council in 2012 and was appointed Birmingham’s first ever Victims’ Champion in the same year. As an MP Jess has continued to promote women’s rights and to encourage the most vulnerable in society to participate in politics and to find their voice. For further information on Jess Phillips MP please Click here

Chief Constable Becky Riggs, NPCC Lead for Child Protection and Abuse and Investigation

Becky brings over 30 years of distinguished policing experience to her current role as Deputy Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police. Her career spans key operational and leadership positions across several UK forces, including Dorset, Hampshire, the Metropolitan Police, and the City of London Police.

Renowned for her expertise in child protection, counter-terrorism investigations, and fraud intelligence, Becky has led the response to high-profile incidents such as the London Bridge terror attack and Grenfell Tower. In 2024, she was selected as the national lead for Child Protection, Abuse and Investigations, driving system-wide efforts to improve the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children across the UK.

Steve Baguley, Education and Transition Lead

Steve has a wealth of experience in Children’s Services, at both operational and managerial levels. He has been a Head of Service for Integrated Safeguarding and Early Intervention, as well as leading on the development of integrated services, including health, social care, and education. This included the implementation of locality vulnerable children meetings, which were nationally recognised as good practice by OFSTED and the Local Government Association.

For the past five years, his role as NWG Network Education and Transition Lead has enabled him to work with areas across the country on exploitation, adolescent safeguarding and the transition into adulthood. This work has been across both children and adult partnerships, sharing learning, practice, research, and resources to help inform local responses.

He has authored an NWG Network report “Exploitation It Does Not Stop Because You Turn 18 “ and also developed an NWG Network benchmarking tool to support practice working with 16/17 year olds and the transition into adulthood. He delivers workshops, presentations and training in this area on behalf of the NWG Network.

Recently, Steve has worked with the Children’s Society to develop the Missing Benchmarking tool which has been used by areas across the country. He has also co-authored Making Words Matter to support reflection on the use of language used in exploitation. Additionally, he has also been part of a small multi-agency project group that developed the Transitional Safeguarding Briefing – Bridging the Gap which was published earlier in the year (June 2021)

Tracey Watkinson, Partner Manager, Hydrant Programme and CSE Taskforce

Tracey is a safeguarding specialist with a master’s degree in Child Protection and Adult Safeguarding. Experience as Chartered Legal Executive and multi-agency safeguarding manager means she can leverage her knowledge and experience to support partners in fulfilling their statutory duties as well as advancinig national safeguarding strategies and learning.

To ensure the policing response to safeguarding is as effective and informed as possible – and that survivors and victims receive support at every stage – Tracey emphasizes the importance of partnership engagement and collaborative working.

In her role as theme lead for the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, Tracey is responsible for enhancing the policing response to group-based child exploitation and abuse and engaging across all safeguarding partners and agencies to support the same.

Tracey also acts as the conduit between partner organisations and policing bodies, facilitating complex safeguarding referrals, and promoting a coordinated, survivor centred approach at every stage of the safeguarding process.

To ensure that the policing response to safeguarding is as informed and effective as possible—and that survivors and victims receive support at every stage—Tracey emphasizes the importance of partnership engagement and collaborative working.

In her role as a Theme Lead on the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, Tracey is responsible for:

• Leading partnership engagement with third-sector organizations to inform policing responses to child welfare and sexual abuse investigations.
• Acting as a key conduit between partner organizations and national policing bodies for complex safeguarding referrals.
• Supporting the development of informed, survivor-centered approaches across all stages of safeguarding investigations.

Lawrence Jordan is the Deputy CEO of the Maire Collins Foundation

This is a specialist charity that looks to improving the outcomes for children sexually abused through the use of technology and provides resources, training, and support to professionals on this subject.

Lawrence has worked in a range of children social care sectors for over 20 years with the last 10 years specialising in children who have been exploited, or trafficked. Lawrence has worked with Marie Collins Foundation for the last 4 years and continues to be a registers social worker as well as being a visiting senior fellow in safeguarding within the Institute of Social Justice and Crime, University of Suffolk.