Yvette Cooper unveils plan for local government-backed grooming gangs inquiries

By Danielle de Wolfe

@dannidewolfe

The Home Secretary has announced plans for government-backed local grooming gangs inquiries.

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Five new inquiries will be set up, including one in Oldham, looking into child sexual exploitation as part of a pilot, all of which will be funded and assisted by central government.

Outlining the new plan to tackle grooming gangs in the Commons on Thursday, Yvette Cooper unveiled the government will now fund five local inquiries into child sexual exploitation as part of a pilot.

Ms Cooper said local inquiries will be able to "delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers" than a national probe.

If successful, she said the £10 million pilot would then be rolled out across other areas.

The "rapid audit" into gang-based exploitation follows criticism from opposition parties and Elon Musk after a national inquiry into child sexual abuse in Oldham was rejected.

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Police will now be encouraged to reopen past investigations, the Home Secretary revealed.

Tom Crowther KC, who led the Telford grooming gang inquiry in 2022, has been asked to advise.

It comes as shadow home secretary Chris Philp labelled the decision to establish the new inquiries "wholly inadequate".

Mr Philp said previous reports and reviews on child sexual exploitation and abuse "did not go far enough", telling the Commons: "The IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) report itself was mainly not about these rape gangs, in fact it barely touched on the issue and only looked at six towns.

Speaking on the subject, Ms Cooper told the Commons that Baroness Louise Casey will also oversee a "rapid" review of the current scale of exploitation across the country.

It comes as the Government confirmed it will set out a timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final report before Easter, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

In a statement to the Commons, she said that despite previous inquiries in to child sexual exploitation, "far too little action has been taken, and shamefully little progress has been made", adding: "That has to change."

She continued: "Before easter, the Government will lay out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final IICSA inquiry report.

Four of those are specifically for the Home Office, and I can confirm we have accepted them in full, including on disclosure and barring, and work on these is already under way.

"A cross-government ministerial group is considering and working through remaining recommendations, and that group will be supported by our new victims and survivors panel.

"In addition, I can confirm today that the Government will implement all the remaining recommendations in the child abuse inquiry's separate, stand alone, report on grooming gangs from February 2022, including updating key department education guidance."

This is a breaking story.