Police who failed to investigate child sex grooming gangs will be held to account, the new independent inquiry’s head pledged today – as she promised issues of ethnicity, culture and religion will also be scrutinised.
‘Any evidence’ of criminal conduct by professionals will be referred to a specially-launched national operation to review hundreds of previously-closed investigations.
In its ‘terms of reference’ published this morning, the inquiry said it would ‘investigate how grooming gangs operated and how institutions, including police, local authorities, health services, social care services, and schools, responded to abuse’.
The £65m inquiry, to conclude no later than March 2029, ‘will examine why children were so often disbelieved, dismissed, or blamed for their own abuse’.
It added: ‘The Inquiry will directly examine whether the ethnicity, culture, or religion of either perpetrators or victims influenced patterns of offending, and whether these factors shaped the institutional response.
‘These are questions that previous reviews chose not to address. This Inquiry will not avoid them.’
But solicitors representing victims of child sex grooming and survivors remain unhappy about the scope of the inquiry – which is limited to just five areas, beginning with Oldham, Greater Manchester, and four others which have not been specified.
And Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, who first called for action on grooming gangs, has criticised the amount of time the inquiry has taken to get going and believes its budget would be better spent on supporting the National Crime Agency bringing gangs to justice.
Baroness Anne Longfield, a former children’s commissioner for England, is chairing the inquiry
One lawyer, David Greenwood, said he was ‘very concerned’ the ‘Labour-run Home Office’ will be able to influence which locations are examined and fears there could be ‘perceptions of bias’.
Meanwhile, Rotherham abuse survivor and campaigner Sammy Woodhouse said it should be widened to a much wider geographical scale, as grooming was going on in ‘every town, every city’.
Ms Woodhouse also criticised the time limit of 1996, when high-profile abuse cases were going on many years earlier, and the inquiry not interviewing victims’ parents as part of the process.
Baroness Anne Longfield, a former children’s commissioner for England, who is chairing the inquiry, said: ‘Children across England and Wales were and are sexually abused and exploited.
‘When they asked for help, they were too often disbelieved, dismissed or blamed. That is the reality this inquiry exists to address.
‘Victims and survivors have every right to ask whether this inquiry will be any different from those that came before.
‘My answer is this: where we can, we will publish our findings as we go, not in a single report years from now. There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find.
‘We will follow the evidence wherever it leads. We will not flinch from uncomfortable truths.’
The inquiry, which will take three years, has promised not to flinch from ‘uncomfortable truths’
David Greenwood, head of the abuse compensation team at law firm Switalskis, said he was ‘very concerned’ that the Home Office ‘intend to work alongside the inquiry panel to select the five areas for close examination’.
He said: ‘I remain unhappy that the Home Office still intends to have influence in selecting the towns and cities to be closely examined. Involvement of the Labour-run Home Office and indeed the presence of Labour figures on the panel still concerns me.
‘I want the inquiry to be credible when it reports and any perception of bias could mean its final report is disregarded by future governments.’
But he added: ‘The panel has obviously listened to concerns over the inquiry being watered down. It will now look into cultural, religious and ethnic influences on the groups of men perpetrating this type of abuse.
‘The draft terms of reference proposed only looking at how these factors affected institutions’ responses.’
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law and public inquiries at law firm Slater and Gordon, said he ‘broadly welcomes’ the terms of reference – and the decision to include ‘specific reference to the role of religion ethnicity and culture in this type of crime’.
He said: ‘This issue cannot be ignored, played down or tiptoed around, and this is now clearly acknowledged.
‘We will need to see in practice how thorough this inquiry is – we don’t yet know what local areas will be examined apart from Oldham, or how deeply the inquiry will probe – the reason it is needed is because the previous inquiry, IICSA, the Independent Inquiry into Chid Sexual Abuse (published in 2022), did not examine this issue in sufficient depth. We cannot repeat that mistake again.’
Sammy Woodhouse is unhappy that just five places will be scrutinised by the inquiry
Sammy Woodhouse, who was raped and abused from the age of 14, said the inquiry would never go far enough for her and other survivors.
She said: ‘Every single council and police force should be investigated and every (public) service, school, social care department. Let’s be honest, they are not going to do that.’
Ms Woodhouse, who worked with former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe on an investigation into grooming, added: ‘Why are they only picking five places? We’ve been able to identify hundreds of towns and cities where it was taking place.
‘And why are they only going back 30 years? There shouldn’t be a time restriction – we know abuse happened before the 1990s.’
She was also critical of a decision to only take evidence from victims and not parents, as well, and how the terms of reference – while referring to race, culture and religion in broad terms – did not specifically refer to Muslim men.
Ms Woodhouse said: ‘I think they need to call a spade a spade. It’s evident that this is (still) a problem. Why are they shying away from it?
‘To this day, no-one dare talk about immigration, about Islam.’
Rotherham Labour MP Sarah Champion said: ‘Hundreds of millions have already been invested in grooming gang inquiries; what will this new one achieve?
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, speaking in the House of Commons earlier this month
‘The million budget would be better spent on the NCA to get the groomers in jail and fund the support victims and survivors so desperately need.
‘A year since announcing the inquiry, three months since appointing the Commissioner – and what more do we know about the details?
‘It’s now another three months before we learn where the local inquiries will happen. Let me give them a starting point: Bradford.
‘I have full confidence that the National Crime Agency will expose and prosecute the grooming gangs. They have done an incredible job getting Rotherham abusers behind bars and their appointment to do this nationally is money well spent.’
There were also calls to widen the inquiry to consider ongoing grooming via the internet.
Marcus Johnstone, managing director of PCD Solicitors, said: ‘Grooming gangs have not disappeared, but simply evolved their tactics to largely escape detection.
‘The biggest development in child abuse happens on encrypted web sites, social media and apps, where the police are hopeless at investigating.
‘By the time this inquiry concludes, I expect we will then need a further inquiry into the horrific abuse that will have been metered out by men from certain backgrounds on the internet.’
The next step for the inquiry is laying the terms of reference before Parliament when it returns from recess on April 13 – then the full investigation will begin.
Lady Longfield will be supported by panellists Zoe Billingham, a former Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, and Eleanor Kelly, a former chief executive of Southwark Council.
The inquiry will look into how grooming gangs operated and how institutions, including the police, local authorities, health services, social care services and schools, responded to abuse.
It will have the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents.
Any evidence of criminal conduct by professionals will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national policing operation launched last year to review hundreds of previously closed investigations, the inquiry pledged.
The inquiry will hold public hearings, which will be live-streamed, and transcripts will be published after each hearing.
In each area, the inquiry will conduct ‘local investigations’ into ‘serious failures identified in response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs’.
Findings will be published progressively rather than being held until a final report.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country’s history – where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.
‘(It) will be laser focused on grooming gangs and will explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture of the offenders and in the response of institutions.
‘There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes.’
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘This appears to be a significantly strengthened terms of reference for the national grooming gangs inquiry.
‘The initial draft did not, amongst other things, examine ethnicity and religion, nor did it ensure those in positions of authority like politicians or police officers would be investigated.
‘I am pleased the Conservatives’ demands on these points, reflecting those of the survivors who contacted us, will be addressed.’
The grooming gangs inquiry was set up in response to a recommendation from Baroness Louise Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
The audit found systemic failures and institutional paralysis had enabled grooming gangs to operate for many years.
