London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley are to be the first towns and cities investigated by the grooming gangs inquiry.
The scandal-hit probe is investigating how grooming gangs operated in England and Wales and the actions of police, councils, health services, social care services and schools.
The announcement on Wednesday confirmed the capital and parts of West Yorkshire will join Oldham, in Greater Manchester, in being the first areas to face so-called local investigations – where serious failures have been identified in the response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.
The inquiry said it will look “in detail at what happened in a specific place – including how children were identified and protected, how organisations responded, how victims were treated, and what needs to change”.
During his election campaign, Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham insisted he “acted immediately” on grooming gangs while he was mayor of Greater Manchester and criticised others for manipulating the facts.
Previously, London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan came under fire for suggesting there was no indication of rape gangs operating in the capital.
The Government has faced a stream of criticism over its handling of the probe.
Sir Keir Starmer initially resisted calls for a national inquiry last year after tech billionaire Elon Musk sparked a political row when he used his X social media platform to attack the Prime Minister over the long-running scandal.
In the wake of the U-turn on ordering the inquiry, efforts to set up the body and start work were fraught with delays and rows about its scope.
Former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield is leading the £65 million three-year inquiry, which has the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents.
The inquiry has said it will examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response.
Any evidence of crimes uncovered will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national police operation launched last year to review hundreds of previously closed investigations.
The inquiry said: “Children across England and Wales were sexually abused and exploited by grooming gangs.
“There are serious questions about how and why institutions tasked with protecting children frequently failed to do so.
“Working closely with victims and survivors of abuse, the inquiry will examine those failures by following the evidence, wherever it leads. It will hold organisations and individuals to account and make recommendations to prevent future abuse.”
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