Grooming gang scandal: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to announce new local inquiries into grooming gangs

As we reported earlier, the government has pointed to previous inquiries, when explaining why it would not set up a new inquiry.

In October 2022, child protection expert Prof Alexis Jay finished a seven-year inquiry into sexual abuse of children across England and Wales, without a specific focus on grooming gangs.

Jay and her team investigated abuse in churches, schools, custodial institutions, political parties, religious groups, and children’s homes.

She found that over decades, children had been harmed online, offline, in the UK and abroad, by individuals and paedophile networks, including grooming gangs, on the streets of British towns and cities.

There were 20 recommendations in the final report and the Conservative government was given the task of delivering them but lost last year’s general election.

Now, 27 months on from the recommendations first being made, all remain outstanding. The new Labour government says it is “working at pace” to deliver them.

The Labour government has resurrected the issue, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper telling the Commons on Monday 6 January she would introduce criminal sanctions for both the cover-up of child sexual abuse and the failure to report it.