THE head of children’s social care in Bradford has told a mother from Keighley that victims of child sex grooming are treated as individuals rather than as “cohorts”.

Jim Hopkinson, the Council’s deputy director for children’s social care, was responding to questions by Ingrow resident and campaigner Angela Sinfield on how the authority has dealt with the issue of grooming.

Mrs Sinfield has organised a petition calling for a top-level probe into “years of failure” in dealing with child sexual exploitation in the town.

At a meeting of the children’s services scrutiny committee in September she accused the council and West Yorkshire Police of ignoring claims she made more than a decade ago that grooming gangs were operating in Keighley.

She presented a number of questions to Bradford Council, which have now been answered by Mr Hopkinson.

Mrs Sinfield had asked: “When did Bradford Council staff become aware that cohorts of children were being abused?”

Mr Hopkinson responded: “Bradford Council does not recognise the term ‘cohort’ in this context.

“The council and its partners clearly understand signs of vulnerability in children but always respond to children at risk of harm as individuals, requiring individual assessments of need and personalised responses.”

He said the council has “long-standing arrangements and procedures” to help children identified as being at risk of child sexual exploitation.

In response to questions about what the council did when it became aware of children being groomed, the authority listed work it has done since 1995, including supporting charities and partnerships with police, and sharing best practice with other councils.

Keighley town councillors have joined Mrs Sinfield in demanding an immediate public inquiry into how the issue of grooming has been handled.

Members voted to back the call after being addressed by Mrs Sinfield at a meeting on November 10.

Bradford Council started a Serious Case Review in February at the end of a major case which saw 13 men convicted of charges relating to the sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Keighley between 2011 and 2012.

When Mrs Sinfield first called for the public inquiry, the council said it would be inappropriate to act before that review had been completed.

Council leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said then: “I wouldn’t rule out a public inquiry if one were needed, but now isn’t the right time for one.”

Bradford Council last week confirmed that remained its position.

Mrs Sinfield was supported at the last Keighley Town Council meeting by Caroline Henry, who set up and ran a voluntary group for two years to help parents of victims of child sex grooming.

Mrs Henry told councillors: "I've found that more girls from the Pakistani community who are victims are coming forward. They end up having to move into hostels.

"It's a big problem and it's not getting better.

"The police say it's good that numbers [of child sex grooming cases] are going up, because that means more people are reporting it. But I don't see these increased numbers as being positive.

"We just keep going to meetings about it, only for the issue to be shelved.

"There will be another big child grooming case in a while, then another uproar, only for things to die down again. So we need to put together an action plan on how to tackle this."