Our new TARGET project is running from April 2017 within Northamptonshire & Leicestershire for 3yrs

Key partners will include disadvantaged young people, Police forces and De Montfort University

Project Activities will include:

• Youth led design and launch of a free online safety app
• Youth led Online Safety workshops for the community
• Youth led ‘Support to Report’ services for young people
• Further research
• Annual conference to share learning and celebrate positive outcomes

All young people engaged in the project will receive on-going training and support to work towards leading the project activities.

The Project Outcomes include disadvantaged young people achieving:

• Improved Wellbeing
• Improved Online Protective Behaviours
• Increased Transferable Knowledge and Skills
• Increased Accredited Volunteering Activities

Why is Service Six prioritising the challenge against online sexual exploitation?

Facts

1. CSE is one of the 3 existing national priorities and a (NCA - National Strategic Tasking and Coordination Group)
2. Main serious and organised threat to the UK & a Major intelligence gap (2015-16 National Crime Agency Control Strategy)
3. The Police are, ‘Developing understanding of CSE offending activity online (2015-16 National Crime Agency Annual Report)
4. 2012-2016: 26% increase at Service Six cases involving Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OSEA)

Key Initial TARGET Research Findings October 2015 to August 2016

Service Six’s TARGET project engaged 1001 young people, 826 of whom were disadvantaged. All resided in Northamptonshire or Leicestershire and were aged between 5 and 25 years of age, with most between 9 and 17 years. 793 young people responded to semi-structured questionnaires and they told us:

• 51% are regularly contacted online by strangers
• 36% have received pornography including child
• 26% have sent pornography
• 19% have been asked to meet stranger/s
• 8% have met strangers
• 0.5% reported to an adult

Furthermore disadvantaged young people are:

• 8% more likely to receive sexually explicit images or video
• 6% more likely to send out sexually explicit images or video
• 23% more likely to send out sexually explicit material willingly
• 21% less likely to report unwanted stranger contact and or receipt of sexually explicit material to an adult

The initial research has highlighted various con-current themes which have a serious public health impact on young people and need exploring further including:

• Addiction to mobile phone use in particular (1000+ average communications per day)
• Physical Impairment due to repetitive strain injury and potential reversal of cervical lordosis
• Apathy to sexually explicit images, pornography and online criminal activity
• Mental Health based on significant indicators of profound loneliness
• Disruption to Education due to constant mobile phone use during lessons at schools
• Disruption to Cognitive Development and associated long-term negative impact
• Absence of Parental Monitoring and associated risk
• Inadequate Internet Security at schools, homes and in the community

For further information please contact TARGET Project Manager Hayley Brown:

E: hayley.brown@servicesix.co.uk