Grooming inquiry to expose police who ignored abuse - The Telegraph

Lady Longfield also pledged that any allegations would be passed to the tandem investigation being overseen by the National Crime Agency.

“We heard that the need for accountability of both institutions and of individuals was necessary – as was the need to ensure that all criminal evidence could be passed to Operation Beaconport – ensuring that institutions will not be left to investigate themselves,” she said.

“It was also clear that we needed to look at ethnicity, culture and religion – not just through the lens of how the state responds – but also at the role they might play as a driver of abuse. We have made changes to the Terms of Reference to address those points.”

The inquiry will conduct investigations in areas where there is particular evidence of past failings, but will not investigate every area in which grooming gangs have operated.

It will spend the first three months deciding on the process and criteria for selecting which areas should have an inquiry. Oldham, in Greater Manchester, is the only area that has been confirmed.

It will have full statutory powers, meaning it can force witnesses to give evidence. This was a key issue that led Sir Keir Starmer to announce a national inquiry following Baroness Casey’s report last June.

Victims’ voices ‘will shape everything we do’

Lady Longfield said: “We will look at how grooming gangs operated and how they were able to continue operating for so long. We will examine what police forces knew, and what they did or did not do with that knowledge.

“We will look at local authorities, health, social care services and schools. And we will look at the cultural and institutional factors that led to children being disbelieved, dismissed, or in too many cases, blamed for their own abuse.”

She made a direct pledge to victims that their voices “will shape everything we do”.

“We want to say something to every victim, survivor and family member who may be watching or reading about this today. You are not a case file. You are not a statistic. You are the reason this inquiry exists,” she said.

“Victims and survivors have every right to ask whether this inquiry will be any different from those that came before. My answer is this: where we can, we will publish our findings as we go, not in a single report years from now.

“There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads. We will not flinch from uncomfortable truths.”

‘Inquiry will be laser focused’

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, said: “The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country’s history – where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

“The independent national inquiry will now begin its crucial work to uncover how these crimes were allowed to happen and root out failure wherever it occurred.

“The chair and I have agreed that the inquiry will be laser focused on grooming gangs and will explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture of the offenders and in the response of institutions.

“There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, welcomed Lady Longfield’s pledge to widen the inquiry into investigating politicians and police officers, saying: “I am pleased the Conservatives’ demands on these points, reflecting those of the survivors who contacted us, will be addressed.”