A Whitehall fixer will undertake a ‘rapid audit’ into the scale of grooming gangs across Britain, the Home Secretary announced today.
Yvette Cooper told MPs she had asked Baroness Louise Casey to oversee a three-month review into gang-based child sexual exploitation.
She revealed the fresh Government action in the wake of a furious political row over Labour’s previous rejection of a new national inquiry into the issue.
Both the Tories and Reform UK had demanded a Whitehall-led investigation after it was revealed ministers had turned down Oldham Council’s request for a national probe.
Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk also launched a barrage of social media attacks on Sir Keir Starmer over the issue.
Ms Cooper has since made two statements to the House of Commons in the past two weeks on the subject of grooming gangs.
In her latest update this afternoon, she told MPs the Government was preparing for five further local inquiries by establishing a ‘new framework’ for such probes.
She also promised to set out a ‘clear timetable’ before Easter for taking forward the 20 recommendations of the seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
And Ms Cooper told MPs that historical gang exploitation cases, where no action was previously taken, will be looked at again.
The IICSA investigation, chaired by Professor Alexis Jay, produced a final report in 2022 but its recommendations have not yet been fully acted on.
The Home Secretary said, despite previous inquiries into child sexual exploitation, ‘far too little action has been taken, and shamefully little progress has been made’.
She said Baroness Casey’s audit would look at ‘cultural and societal drivers’ of offences.
‘It will properly examine ethnicity data and the demographics of the gangs involved and their victims, and will look at the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending, including amongst different ethnic groups,’ Ms Cooper said.
‘And it will make recommendations about further analysis, investigations and actions that are needed to address current and historic failures.’
Baroness Casey will complete her work on grooming gangs before beginning her review of social care, which Labour previously tasked her with, Ms Cooper added.
The Home Secretary pledged the Government would ‘provide stronger national backing for local inquiries where they are needed to get truth and justice for victims and survivors’.
‘The PM and I both met with survivors last week from Telford who had enormous praise for the way that local inquiry was conducted after there had been failings over very many years,’ she added.
‘And that inquiry led to tangible change including piloting the introduction of CCTV in taxis, appointing child sexual exploitation experts in local secondary schools.
‘And as we’ve seen, effective local inquiries can delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers than a lengthy nationwide inquiry can provide.
‘So Tom Crowther KC, chair of the Telford inquiry, has agreed to work with the Government to develop a new framework for victim-centred locally-led inquiries where they are needed.
‘As a first step to work with Oldham Council and up to four other pilot areas.
‘That will also include support for local authorities who want to explore other ways to support victims including local panels or drawing on the experiences of the Independent Inquiry Truth Project.’
The recent furore over grooming gangs came after it was revealed Labour had snubbed Oldham Council’s request for a Whitehall-led inquiry, with ministers instead favouring a locally-led probe.
A string of Labour MPs recently broke ranks with Sir Keir to demand a new national inquiry into the issue.
Among those was Sarah Champion, the Rotherham MP, who this afternoon told Ms Cooper that inquiries into child sexual abuse need ‘the ability to compel witnesses’.
‘A big strand of what we need to do is make sure there have been no cover ups, and it’s only if it’s on a statutory footing that we can do that,’ she added.
Ms Cooper said the Home Office was working with the Cabinet Office, mayors and local councils ‘to draw up what new accountability arrangements would be’.
Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp blasted Labour’s decision to establish a series of local inquiries as ‘wholly inadequate’.
Mr Philp said previous reports and reviews on child sexual exploitation and abuse ‘did not go far enough’.
He told MPs: ‘The IICSA report itself was mainly not about these rape gangs, in fact it barely touched on the issue and only looked at six towns.
‘We now believe as many as 50 towns could have been affected so IICSA barely scratched the surface.
‘The Home Secretary has announced Government support for only five local inquiries.
‘Let me say this is wholly inadequate when we know up to 50 towns are affected.’
A No10 spokesman said: ‘Louise Casey’s track record speaks for itself… she’s carrying out this work in her role as the government’s lead non-executive director.
‘It will not affect her work on the independent commission into adult social care which begins in April.’