- The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has expanded its scope by launching targeted investigations in Birmingham and Wales to examine child sexual abuse and the institutional responses to it.
- These new probes add to those previously announced for London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, focusing on areas with identified severe failures in protecting children from sexual exploitation.
- Led by former children’s commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield, the £65 million, three-year inquiry possesses statutory powers to compel witnesses to testify and require organisations to hand over documents.
- The inquiry team has identified more than 800 recommendations from previous reports dating back to the 1990s, revealing significant inconsistencies in how institutions implemented past recommendations.
- Investigators will evaluate whether ethnicity, culture, or religion influenced offending or shaped institutional responses, with the inquiry planning to host its first public hearings by the end of the year.
IN FULL
