I WAS very sorry to read that Councillor Michael Westerman had been abused when he was 12 – Councillor says he was abused at 12 (Keighley News, February 2) – it must have been a dreadful experience that has obviously stayed with him.

I would strongly encourage him to meet with the police and social services to get the support and justice he deserves.

As Cllr Westerman’s experiences demonstrate, it is not just girls who are abused but also boys. As we have seen in the media during recent months, abuse occurs in football clubs, faith groups, children’s homes, within family and friends networks and online, as well as grooming by gangs.

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a vile crime that Bradford Council takes seriously, and I am therefore disappointed members of Keighley Town Council don’t appear to know about all the steps we are taking to learn lessons from the past, to investigate and prosecute perpetrators and to keep our children and young people safe.

Bradford Council makes a point of talking about difficult issues such as CSE all the time and, in addition to the serious case review that fully examined the abuse young girl ‘Autumn’ received in Keighley, we have taken a number of detailed reports to a number of committees. Indeed, a report that specifically looks at the issue in Keighley will be looked at by Keighley Area Committee on February 16 and I would encourage anyone who wants to know more to come along and listen.

In the meantime, for those who can’t attend, I will briefly mention some of the things we and partners are doing to combat CSE.

We have established a hub where social workers and police officers work side by side, we have used drama to raise awareness of the issue in secondary and primary schools, we have worked with 3,400 private hire and taxi drivers and operators and we have worked with businesses and locations to raise awareness where there is potential risk of children falling victim. There is also a team of police officers who are specifically investigating 13 complex historical cases of exploitation.

Finally, I know some people are disappointed we are not holding what would be a costly public inquiry, but we do not feel it would add any additional value to what we already know and how we have changed our approach.

Instead, we have referred ourselves to the national CSE enquiry and to a number of other bodies, which oversee this issue, but to date none of these have suggested the need for a local inquiry.

COUNCILLOR VAL SLATER Bradford Council deputy leader