Next steps to tackle child sexual exploitation

The Home Secretary stopped short of launching a statutory national inquiry, as called for by the Conservatives and some Labour MPs, but this marks a clear shift in the government’s position.

She said top lawyer Tom Crowther, who led an inquiry in Telford, would help Oldham and four other pilot areas yet to be named, develop their own reviews. 

She said this would begin by working with Oldham Council and up to four other pilot areas, with £5m of an overall £10m package being put up to “get work off the ground”.

She also announced a “rapid” three month national audit headed by veteran government troubleshooter Baroness Louise Casey to examine the demographics of the gangs and their victims, as well as “cultural drivers” behind the offending.

In her update, she also said:

“And I can announce new action today to help victims get more investigations and prosecutions underway.

“I am extending the remit of the independent Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel so it covers not just historic cases before 2013, but all cases since so that any victim of abuse will have the right to seek an independent review without having to go back to the local institutions who decided not to proceed with their case.

“I am writing today to the National Police Chiefs Council to ask all chief constables to look again at historic gang exploitation cases where ‘No Further Action’ was taken, and work with the police Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce to pursue new lines of inquiry and re-open investigations where appropriate and these new measures will be backed by £2 million of additional funding for the taskforce and the panel.

“And all police forces will be expected to implement the 2023 recommendations from His Majesty’s Inspectorate, including producing ‘problem profiles’ on the nature of grooming gangs in their area. And I have asked the Inspectorate to review progress this year.”