Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced plans for five government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs in a clear shift of position on the issue.
She said top lawyer Tom Crowther, who led an inquiry in Telford, would help Oldham and four other pilot areas yet to be named, develop their own reviews.
Cooper also announced a “rapid” three month national audit headed by veteran government troubleshooter Baroness Louise Casey. This will examine the ethnicity and demographics of gangs and their victims, as well as the “cultural drivers” behind the offending.
Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the plan was “wholly inadequate” and there should be a full national inquiry.
He also expressed concern that the local inquiries would not have the powers to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence under oath.
Between 1997 and 2013, towns and cities – including Oldham and Rotherham – were blighted by gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani descent, who raped and trafficked children as young as 11.
An independent report, published by Prof Alexis Jay in 2014, estimated 1,400 girls had been abused in Rotherham. She would later go on to lead a national review into child sexual abuse, which lasted seven years and made 20 recommendations when it was published in 2022.
The Conservatives have argued that the report did not sufficiently examine grooming gangs and called for new national inquiry.
In recent days three Labour MPs also publicly expressed support for a national inquiry – Dan Carden, Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, and Rochdale MP Paul Waugh.
Other senior Labour figures, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, also joined the calls, saying they would support a limited new inquiry.
The issue has been thrust into the spotlight by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has criticised the prime minister for not calling a national inquiry.
Musk responded to Cooper’s announcement by saying on his X platform: “I hope this is a proper investigation.”
Prof Jay rejected calls for a new national inquiry last week, saying victims want to see action on her recommendations and a new inquiry would cause delays.
The prime minister and Labour ministers had said their priority was to implement the Jay recommendations, and Cooper announced that one of the key points – mandatory reporting – would be added to the Crime and Policing Bill.
In a statement in the House of Commons, Cooper said that despite Prof Jay’s report and other inquiries, “shamefully little progress had been made”.
“That has got to change,” she said and added that by Easter, the government would set out a “clear timetable” for implementing the Jay report’s recommendations.
Cooper argued that “effective local inquiries can delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers, and change, than a lengthy nationwide inquiry can provide”
She said Tom Crowther, who led an inquiry in Telford, would help the government develop a new framework for “victim-centred locally-led inquiries where they are needed”.
She said this would begin by working with Oldham Council and up to four other pilot areas, with £5m being put up to “get work off the ground”.
Champion pressed the home secretary on whether the inquires would be able to summon witnesses to give evidence.
“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 said.
Cooper replied that different approaches could be taken and the government would work with local mayors and local councils to “make sure that we can strengthen the accountability arrangements”.
She said this included introducing a “duty of candour” which requires public servants to tell the truth.
The separate audit looking at the ethnicity of grooming gangs and their victims will be led by Baroness Louise Casey, who previously led the 2015 review of Rotherham Council.
Casey has already been appointed to lead a commission into social care, but Downing Street insisted the two pieces of work would not clash, saying her work on grooming gangs would be finished before before the start of April.
In her statement, Cooper also announced she would be asking chief constables in England and Wales to re-examine historic gang exploitation cases and re-open investigations “were appropriate”. This would be backed by £2m of additional funding, she said.
