OFFICIALS heard from a victim of drug dealing gangs at a conference this week - just months after government officials said Dorset County Council is failing to safeguard its most vulnerable children.

Police and crime commissioner Martyn Underhill hosted a problem solving forum on new approaches to tackling county lines and criminal exploitation in Dorset on Wednesday.

County lines – a practice which sees gangs from large cities use dedicated phone lines to supply drugs to smaller towns – is on the rise in the county.

During the conference, representatives from various agencies heard from a victim of a drugs gang.

In July, a government report identified that children at risk of sexual exploitation, as well as those vulnerable to gangs, are being failed in Dorset.

Officials said Dorset council’s standard of practice is “not consistently safe or effective”, while “the most vulnerable children are not being sufficiently safeguarded”.

“While some work is of a reasonable quality, the poorest work is very poor,” the report concluded.

“Social workers who work with children who have been sexually exploited do not consistently have the right skills and knowledge.”

Only police understand “the extent of criminal exploitation of children by organised drug dealers in Dorset”. Other agencies are not “collectively using intelligence” to help victims.

“The police have been highly proactive in their work around criminal exploitation, but have not been met with a similar level of interest and engagement from their partners,” authors of the report said.

The inspection was carried out by agencies including Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.

Dorset County Council had launched a plan of improvements before the inspection in May.

Nick Jarman, director for children’s services at the council, said: “Ensuring that vulnerable children in Dorset are protected and safe is our top priority and we acknowledge that we need to improve the way we work.

“Not long after I joined Dorset County Council in October 2017, we put in place a rigorous audit programme to look at the quality of our children’s social care practice.

“As a result, we put in place a robust service improvement plan to address these issues.”