Highlights
A NEW statutory inquiry into child sexual abusers will examine whether ethnicity, culture and religion influenced both offending and the response of authorities, under terms published ahead of its formal launch this month.
The independent investigation, set to be laid before parliament on April 13, will focus on group-based child sexual exploitation across England and Wales. It will explore how grooming gangs operated over time and assess the actions of institutions including the police, local authorities, health services, social care bodies and schools, reported the Guardian.
The inquiry will be chaired by former children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, and will have legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents. Any evidence of criminal conduct by professionals will be passed to Operation Beaconport, a national policing operation reviewing hundreds of previously closed cases.
Longfield said the inquiry aims to address a pattern in which victims were not taken seriously. “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,” she said. Acknowledging concerns about past investigations, she added: “We will publish our findings as we go… There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
The probe will carry out targeted local investigations in areas where serious failings have already been identified, with Oldham confirmed among the first locations. Public hearings will be livestreamed, and transcripts will be released after each session to ensure transparency.
Supporting Longfield on the panel are Zoë Billingham, a former inspector of constabulary and fire and rescue services, and Eleanor Kelly, a former chief executive of Southwark council. The inquiry is expected to run for up to three years, concluding by March 2029, with a budget of £65 million.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said the inquiry would play a key role in exposing failings. She described the scandal as “one of the darkest moments in our country’s history” and said it would “uncover how these crimes were allowed to happen and root out failure wherever it occurred”.
She added that the investigation would be “laser focused” and would explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the expanded scope, saying earlier proposals had not addressed these factors or ensured scrutiny of those in authority. She said the revised terms reflected concerns raised by survivors.
The inquiry follows recommendations from Louise Casey’s national audit, which found that systemic failures and institutional inaction had allowed child sexual abusers to operate for years.
