Oldham council boss welcomes government-backed inquiry into 'horrendous failings' over borough's grooming gangs

Oldham council leader Arooj Shah has welcomed a government announcement that it will support a new inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the borough.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper today (January 16) announced a £5m support package to help fund up to five local inquiries into grooming gangs, including in Oldham.

It comes after Oldham town hall's request for a government-led inquiry into CSE in the town was initially rejected. The decision was widely criticised.

The support comes as part of a series of measures announced by the Home Office to help address historic cases of CSE, which includes a national report and a request to police to reopen cold cases.

The new review would be advised on by Tom Crowther KC, who led the Telford grooming gang inquiry published in 2022. It would follow on from a previous report on CSE in Oldham, which concluded the local authority had failed vulnerable children, but which was criticised at the time of publication to be ‘too limited in scope’.

In a statement, Coun Shah said: "We welcome this announcement and indeed any action that the government takes to establish genuinely survivor-led inquiries into historical sexual abuse.

"Survivors must be at the heart of any inquiry into these horrendous failings. Oldham’s survivors can be confident that by involving someone of the stature of Tom Crowther KC they will have a voice and a stake in our inquiry.

"As we work with government on the details of this plan, we will also make sure that survivors are involved every step of the way. I’m proud that Oldham will help shape future survivor-led inquiries across the country. It is a small chink of light and hope from this dark era of our borough and our country.

"I am also glad that the government is asking Baroness Casey to look at the drivers of this specific type of abuse as part of her review.

"Child sexual abuse is perpetrated by people of all races and religions, and inflicted on people of all races and religions. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask questions about any drivers of this very specific type of offending. We need to do more to understand why this particular pattern of abuse is more prevalent among some groups of men.

"That’s not racism – it’s common sense. It's not religion or race that defines these crimes, it’s the crimes that define these men. There is no corner in any part of our society for these people – the only place they belong is in prison after facing the full force of justice."