Will Local Inquiries into Grooming Gangs be Effective?
Despite failed attempts to have a national inquiry into grooming gangs added to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, HM Government have announced plans to implement a local inquiry in Oldham and four other yet to be named local area inquiries.
As part of a £5 million plan, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper addressed parliament to announce the development of a new victim centred framework for the inquiries which will be based on the previous Telford child sexual exploitation inquiry, with the support of Tom Crowther KC who chaired this inquiry.
The Home Secretary also stated that government office;
‘will also work with mayors and local councils to now bolster the accountability mechanisms that can support and follow up local inquiries to ensure that those who are complicit in cover ups or to try to resist scrutiny are always robustly held to account and truth and justice are never denied.’
This will include supporting Local Authorities in setting up local panels and drawing on the experience of the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) Truth Project. The Truth Project enabled 6,000 victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences with the Inquiry and put forward suggestions for change.
In addition, a three month ‘rapid audit’ to determine the ‘current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country’ will be conducted. This review is to be led by Dame Louise Casey, author of the no-holds barred 2015 report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, and will include a focus on gathering ethnicity data and demographics of the gangs involved and their victims, together with cultural and societal drivers.
Whilst these steps have been welcomed, the five local inquiries will not have statutory status, creating doubt that the process will fall short of providing a true picture of child sexual exploitation (CSE) abuse. Non-statutory inquiries do not have the power to compel witnesses to attend hearings and/or give evidence to the inquiry under oath. As we have seen in the past with non-statutory inquiries vital evidence from Local Authorities and the police may be withheld.
I would also argue that, whilst it is best practice to base new inquiries on what has worked well in the past, committing to instigating such a limited number of inquiries sends the wrong message. This is an endemic UK wide problem and needs to be recognised as such. Indeed, the terms ‘grooming gangs’ or ‘rape gangs’ also perpetuates the myth that CSE happens in ‘pockets’ of the country.
If we are to really tackle the abhorrent practice of CSE there needs to be recognition that it is a form of organised crime, with links to child trafficking and county lines activity. The inquiries need to be conducted nationally, with statutory status in order to be thorough and prevent the withholding of cooperation and evidence which has plagued previous reviews in this area.
SSS Learning Safeguarding Director
23 January 2025
