Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd and Greater Manchester Police have won almost £5m from the Home Office Police Innovation Fund – cash that the Government top-sliced from police budgets.
This valuable return of funding will now be used in Greater Manchester’s fight against child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.
This includes the development of a unique engagement platform for young people involving a web app produced by young people and awareness raising sessions for young people in every school in Greater Manchester on how to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation.
The funding will also be used to help victims of domestic abuse and their families at an earlier stage to prevent reoffending and stop violence escalating.
Tony said: “Tackling child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse are huge challenges for Greater Manchester and these initiatives will allow us to step up the fight against these issues and protect the most vulnerable in our communities.
“The child sexual exploitation initiative chimes with the recommendations in the Coffey Report giving young people the tools to spearhead the fight back against child sexual exploitation. It will be an example of strong partnership working between police, private and third sector working with thousands of young people in a way that hasn’t been done before so their voices can be heard.
“However, while it is of course good news that we have been awarded this funding, I must stress that the Government’s Innovation Fund was created by skimming money from local policing budgets – this is money that rightly belongs to the communities of Greater Manchester and the vulnerable people we are trying to protect. “
The web app will be developed by and for young people to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation and empower them to look out for themselves and their friends. It will share advice and safety messages to encourage reporting and help prevent young people becoming victims of abuse.
Barnardo’s will also go into every primary and secondary schools to have a conversation with young people about child sexual exploitation through its Real Love Rocks programme.
The domestic abuse initiative will see police and other agencies working with victims of domestic violence and their families, providing support at an early stage, working with perpetrators to change their behaviour and break the cycle of abuse for children and young people.
Police, local authorities and other partner agencies will also work with the voluntary sector to develop a network of Victim Champions, bringing agencies together to signpost victims to relevant support services, share best practice and prevent repeat victims of domestic abuse.
Other projects awarded funding include a business crime hub to share crime prevention advice and crime alerts with businesses across Greater Manchester and allow businesses to report crime and upload CCTV online direct to police, and additional funding for Programme Challenger, Greater Manchester’s multi-agency approach to tackling serious and organised crime.
The breakdown of funding is as follows:
• Domestic abuse early intervention project – £2.227m
• Child Sexual Exploitation initiative – £1.169m
• Business Crime Hub – £297,000
• Programme Challenger – £1.125m
