Betrayal of missing kids

Ministers break vow to track vulnerable with database

-  Nigel Nelson

THE number of missing children at risk of harm has surged while the Tories fail to deliver on a safeguarding vow they made ten years ago.

The broken promise to introduce a national missing persons database means police cannot see if a missing person they pick up has a history of disappearing in other parts of the country.

And welfare charities warn this increases the risk of vulnerable youngsters suffering long-term sexual abuse or exploitation by criminal groups inclusing county lines drug gangs. There were 193,000 recorded incidents involving missing kids in 2019-20 – up 50% on the previous five years – and 17,000 were flagged as involving sexual exploitation.