Shocking figures have revealed specialist police dealing with child sexual exploitation are being swamped with cases.
Experts have branded the level of abuse “extremely worrying”.
Lucy Morton, manager of the NSPCC’s Glasgow service centre, said: “The large number of children at risk of sexual exploitation is a matter of grave concern.
“Children who are abused or sexually exploited need to be listened to, believed and supported.”
Between 2011 and September this year, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre passed on 10,434 cases of child sex abuse to police forces to investigate.
At its peak during 2013, evidence of sex crime, which includes online abuse, was being handed to police at a rate of 13 cases a day.
The revelations come just days after Education Minister Mike Russell MSP, announced taxi drivers, hotel staff and other night workers were to be issued with guidance on how to spot child sex abuse.
The Scottish Government is preparing to launch a public enquiry following the publication of a report by charity Children in Scotland, which warned the country lacks a “confident and competent workforce for protecting children”.
Figures uncovered through a Westminster Parliamentary question revealed, during 2011, more than 1,100 leads were passed to UK police forces, which increased to 1,927 in 2012.
In 2013 it soared to 4,875. There have already been 2,519 cases in the first nine months of 2014.
Last month, Police Scotland announced it is setting up a National Child Abuse Investigation Unit to improve specialist intelligence gathering and co-ordinating investigations.
Brian Docherty, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, warned the volume of work the unit faces may impact frontline policing.
He said: “Resources have to come from somewhere and if that’s going to have to come from 24/7 response police, it is a concern for all of us.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal, public protection lead for Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division, said: “The National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) will deliver an enhanced specialist response that will support our 14 local policing divisions and inter-agency child protection structures by providing dedicated specialist investigative resources who will lead and/or provide assistance during child abuse investigations.
“Protecting children is a priority and the NCAIU will play a critical role in helping us achieve that.”
In Scotland, allegations of historical abuse have been made by former pupils at the Roman Catholic Fort Augustus School on the banks of Loch Ness. Hundreds of children are also said to have been abused at Nazareth House in Aberdeen. Allegations of cruelty have also been made by those who were at Larchgrove boys home in Glasgow.
The inquiry is also expected to examine allegations involving the late Conservative MP, Nicholas Fairbairn.
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