Call for Evidence: Violence and exploitation of girls and young women, including around criminal gangs

The Commission on Young Lives and Manchester Metropolitan University: Reimagining our aspirations for the most vulnerable young people 

The Commission on Young Lives and Manchester Metropolitan University are working together to examine the extent and impact of violence and exploitation of girls and young women, including around criminal gangs, and the solutions that are required to help protect girls at risk and support them to succeed.

The Commission on Young Lives is an independent commission to devise local and national systems to prevent vulnerable children and young people becoming involved in violence, exploitation and crime. Last year the Commission on Young Lives published 'Hidden in Plain Sight', which put forward extensive proposals for system reform.

Manchester Metropolitan University houses the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS), which is a world-leading, award winning multi-disciplinary research centre, recognised for its ethos of promoting innovative youth-informed and youth-led research, with a particular focus on youth justice.

Building on Manchester Metropolitan University's and MCYS' innovative study of girls' experiences of violence and exploitation, we are now focusing on girls at risk of violence and harm, and we are seeking evidence from experts to understand the prevalence of girls who are at risk of harm and the impact.

We will be putting forward solutions, making recommendations for the policy changes needed to safeguard and protect girls and to support them to succeed, and highlighting good and emerging practice.

Our 'Call for Evidence' is now open.

We are asking those on the frontline, service and system leaders and commissioners and those with lived experience in relation to these issues.

Your contribution will help us to ensure that we are able to identify trends, new practice models and gather ideas for practice and policy solutions.

We are interested in some key areas of question with relation to girls and young women at risk.

The following questions are by no means exhaustive, and we would welcome additional areas you think we should be considering.

1. What leads to vulnerability and crisis for girls and young women, including around criminal gangs and why aren't services as effective as they need them to be?

2. What data is available of the prevalence and nature of violence and exploitation of girls and young women including in and around gangs?

3. How can girls and young women at risk be better identified and who should be doing this?

4. How can girls and young women at risk be supported to prevent violence, exploitation and crisis and to support them to succeed?

5. Who should be protecting vulnerable girls and young women from exploitation and violence?

6. What do girls and young women at risk need and how can this be delivered at scale?

The Commission on Young Lives and Manchester Metropolitan University want to learn more about the systemic issues that drive risk and what you think can be done to reform the system nationally and locally.

Please share your ideas of what such a coordinated action plan should include and the practical steps that can be taken to deliver this, and please add additional information that you think will help us in our deliberations.

We are asking those who wish to make a submission to submit a word document to info@thecommissiononyounglives.co.uk with the subject title 'Call for Evidence submission'. We would be grateful if your submission was no longer than four sides of A4. Alternatively, you can submit your comments via our website here.

The deadline for submissions is Friday April 21st 2023. 

Thank you for taking the time to complete this call for evidence.

If you would like to find out more about Manchester Metropolitan University's Manchester Centre for Youth Studies please visit https://www.mmu.ac.uk/mcys/.