-
Supporting child protection and abuse investigation
The Hydrant Programme is a national policing programme supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Working Group.
About us
View our Group-Based Offending publication
Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce shines light on Group-Based Offending
Today (Thursday 21 November 2024) the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Taskforce have published a new report which sets out publicly a clear, detailed picture of police recorded group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes across England and Wales in 2023.
Based on data collected from 44 police forces, this national snapshot in time gives insight, analysis and commentary on the scale, nature and threat of group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE), including crime types and where offences were committed. There is also demographic information on who the victims and suspects of these crimes are.
The analysis shows that 26% of group-based offending takes place within the family environment and that 48% of suspects, where age is known, were between 10-17 years old.
About the
Hydrant Programme
The Hydrant Programme is a national policing programme supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Working Group. Originally established in 2014 to coordinate the response to non-recent child sexual abuse, but now supporting forces across all child protection and abuse investigation issues.
Hydrant develops policy and strategy on behalf of the NPCC, develops and delivers best practice advice including a learning, review and improvement function, provides a strategic analysis capability and partnership engagement with key stakeholders and partners.
What we offer
A Peer Review, Peer Support, CPD and Debrief function working across all elements of child abuse and child protection, which forces can access at no cost.
A Partnership Hub which supports key stakeholders and organisations with operational child protection and safeguarding issues.
An Analysis and Research Team who work in collaboration with the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme and the National Crime Agency to enhance understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and exploitation and the risk and harm it presents. The aim of this is to address identified gaps in policing’s national capability highlighted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and others.
A Communications Team with the ability to coordinate issues of national operational criticality within the vulnerability portfolio when this is appropriate, for example policing’s response to incidents like the Everyone’s Invited movement and the football abuse scandal.