GIRLS and young women who become involved in offending are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, inspectors warned yesterday.

The finding comes is a joint report by HM Inspectorate of Probation, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, Care and Social Service Inspectorate Wales.

The report found that youth offending teams and staff in secure establishments were working hard with girls who commit criminal offences to reduce reoffending and reduce the risk the girls posed.

However, many of those girls had potentially been exposed to sexual exploitation in the community and staff needed to be better equipped to deal with it.

Inspectors made a number of recommendations to youth offending team management boards, youth offending team managers, local authority children’s services and police forces.

These included ensuring effective liaison between youth offending teams and other agencies working to safeguard girls at risk of sexual exploitation and regular monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of this cooperation.