Truth Project workers to visit Telford several times before talking to sex abuse victims
The Truth Project will come to Telford several times in April before speaking with victims of child sexual exploitation later in the year, it has been revealed.
The project is part of the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s Truth Project and gives victims and survivors the chance to talk about their experiences with child sexual exploitation.
Representatives of the Truth Project are expected to make several visits to Telford in April to meet with key stakeholders and raise awareness of the campaign.
They will then visit the week of May 21 and June 4 to deliver the ‘Telford Will Be Heard’ project.
The project as a whole, which has also visited places including Nottingham, Newcastle, Bristol and Swansea, aims to discover the extent to which institutions in England and Wales failed to protect children from sexual abuse.
Conservative councillors, as well as Telford MP Lucy Allan, have continued calls for a council-led inquiry in Telford, despite the national inquiry turning its eye to the town.
But Councillor Paul Watling, cabinet member for Children’s and Adults Early Help and Support said the Truth Project was the best way forward for the time being.
“The Truth Project is an integral part of the inquiry and provides the local opportunity for victims and survivors to come forward and explain, in a supported way, what happened to them,” he said.
“This gives the inquiry a clear and first-hand picture of what has happened in Telford in the past.”
Following a cabinet meeting yesterday, the full council will meet again to further discuss the issue of child sexual exploitation on April 10 at Oakengates Theatre.
They will discuss a motion put forward by Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of the opposition Tory group.
He wrote: “This meeting requests that the cabinet of Telford & Wrekin Council approve the commissioning and implementation of a ‘non-statutory’ independent inquiry into all aspects of historical and current instances of child sexual exploitation within the borough.
“This meeting also requests the cabinet to instruct council officers to commission such an inquiry as soon as practically possible.”
