NEW government measures are a ‘step in the right direction’ to help combat child sexual exploitation, police said.

Det Supt Andy Murphy, from the public protection unit at Lancashire Police, which has been hailed as ‘best practice’ for its approach to tackling the issue, was speaking after David Cameron held a summit to discuss ideas to help protect children from exploitation.

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The meeting was held in the wake of a scandal in Oxfordshire, which revealed as many as 373 children had been identified as potential victims over 16 years.

Det Supt Murphy said latest figures showed that between April 2013 and March 2014, 1,248 CSE referrals were made in Lancashire.

He said: “It is hard to say whether all those have been sexually exploited, but they have been referred because there are suspicions.

“We have got four times as many referrals in a year as Oxfordshire had in 16, but in my opinion, it does not mean there is more risk of CSE here.

“There are a lot of reasons for that and one is that we have strong strategies in place to get the referrals in, record them and then do something with them.

“So I actually think it is a good thing.”

Among the plans Mr Cameron will introduce to try to bring down the number of cases of CSE is to create a new helpline to encourage whistleblowers to report bad practice.

Det Supt Murphy said: “Anything that can give us a clearer understanding of what is going on can only be supported.

“We try to encourage people to report CSE and we want them to feel supported when they have done.

“But it is difficult getting people to engage with us because it is a really challenging area.

“The victims have not had the best of deals and are not confident with how we have dealt with them in the past. Ten years ago, we picked this up and saw it as an issue, but we are not where we want to be.”

“Whistleblowers are really important because there are people working with young people that feel sometimes feel that they cannot put their head above the parapet. We need to first of all recognise that is the case, forgetting about the blame for a moment.

“We need these people to come forward and with the helpline being anonymous, it gives the opportunity to put safeguarding measures in place.”

Mr Cameron has also suggested that sexual abuse should be prioritised as a national threat, like serious and organised crime.

Det Supt Murphy said this meant chief constables and police and crime commissioners had to put a strategic policing requirement in place.

He added: “I personally think it is long overdue. In Lancashire, we have been working towards this for a number of years.”

The officer said anything that brought CSE to the forefront of people’s minds had to be a good thing.

He said: “I think all of these measures are a step in the right direction.”