New inquiry into child sexual abuse
[Last updated 28/01/25]
Child exploitation and sexual abuse are horrendous crimes. Victims and survivors must come first, and their voices must be respected and heard.
You will know there has been a national inquiry into this issue in recent years. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), led by Professor Alexis Jay, was conducted over seven years and concluded in 2022. It engaged with more than 7,000 victims, processed 2 million pages of evidence and published 61 reports and publications. The previous Government, however, failed to implement any of its 20 recommendations prior to the General Election in 2024, despite having almost two years to do so.
Our new Government will act on those recommendations. The Home Secretary has confirmed that, before Easter, the Government will lay out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations, and that it would also implement all the remaining recommendations in the inquiry’s stand-alone report on grooming gangs, which was published in February 2022.
Prior to this announcement, this Government confirmed that we will be bringing in mandatory reporting, introducing tougher sentences for child grooming, and setting up a new Victims and Survivors Panel to advise on Government policy. In addition, victims of abuse will be able to ask for their closed cases to be reviewed by an independent criminal justice review panel if they were not taken forward to prosecution by the police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The Home Secretary is also writing to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, asking officers to look again at these unsolved and closed grooming gang cases, backed by £2.5 million in funding for stronger investigations.
This is not a knee-jerk reaction to current events. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduced by this Government – the single biggest piece of children safeguarding legislation in a generation – was in the King’s Speech in July 2024. This landmark Bill recognises that teachers are often the first to spot warnings of abuse or neglect and will place a duty on local authorities, police forces and health organisations to always involve educators and schools in decisions around safeguarding. The Bill would also remove the automatic right for a parent to home-educate their child if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan.
The amendments tabled by the Opposition party calling for a new national inquiry would have slowed the progress of this crucial Bill. I was therefore not prepared to support these amendments because closing identified gaps in child protection is a matter of extreme urgency.
In terms of new investigations, the Home Secretary has said the Government will back locally-led inquiries with £5 million of funding, alongside developing a new effective framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, and working with Oldham Council and four other pilot areas to implement it. I understand Baroness Louise Casey will conduct a rapid audit of the current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country, including properly examining the demographics of grooming gangs and their victims.
I’m sure you will agree that we should prioritise respecting and listening to victims and survivors, and that their interests must come first. No child should ever suffer sexual abuse or exploitation, and we must learn from past mistakes and do everything possible to prevent future failures.