Child Rape Gangs

Commons Urgent Question

The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House of Commons on Monday 28 April.

“The shadow Home Secretary was away when I updated the House on the Government’s response to the independent national inquiry into child sexual abuse, and on the action that we are taking to investigate and tackle child grooming gangs across the country. As I have said many times, people up and down this country are understandably horrified by the appalling crimes committed by despicable grooming gangs. Children were subjected to the most unthinkable sexual violence. Front-line services, local authorities and elected politicians turned away or even blamed the children, rather than their rapists. I know this because I speak to victims week in, week out, and I have done so for decades.

This Government are determined to get to the truth of both historical and current grooming gangs, to ensure that perpetrators are punished and to deliver justice and accountability for victims and survivors. That is why we are pressing ahead with the key recommendations of the independent inquiry, including the mandatory duty to report. Baroness Casey, who conducted a no-holds-barred review into grooming gangs’ offending in Rotherham, is currently overseeing a national audit of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. The audit will identify what further work is needed. It is looking at the scale, nature and profile of group-based abuse, including the characteristics of offenders. It will conclude in the coming weeks, and I have already committed to publishing the findings.

The Home Secretary and I have always been clear that the first priority in tackling this heinous offending is getting perpetrators behind bars, and getting justice for the victims and survivors. That is why all police forces in England and Wales have been asked to review historical grooming gangs investigations that were closed with no further action, and to pursue new lines of inquiry and reopen investigations where appropriate.

We are also going further than ever before to support local areas to hold independent local inquiries, which can drive action and accountability at a local level. That is what inquiries in Telford, Manchester and Rotherham have delivered effectively, and that is the approach we would like to see rolled out elsewhere. In January, we said that we would support five local inquiries. We are moving ahead with that commitment, and we have confirmed that funding will be made available to Oldham Council as part of this work. We are currently working with a range of experts to develop a best practice local inquiries framework, so that local areas that conduct inquiries do so in a way that actually delivers justice, accountability and truth, commanding the support of victims and survivors.

Our focus is on delivering meaningful, tangible change for victims and survivors. That means delivering on the key recommendations of Professor Jay’s national inquiry, getting perpetrators behind bars and, most importantly of all, protecting children today”.

15:54:00

My Lords, the child rape gang scandal has seriously shaken the trust that communities across this country have in the systems that are supposed to protect them. People deserve reassurance as well as clarification, and they need to know that the Government are taking swift and significant action to address this situation. That being so, why will the Government not commit to holding a national statutory inquiry into this matter? Further, will the Minister take this opportunity to inform the House when the long overdue rapid audit, overseen by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, will publish a final report?

I would thank the noble Lord for the question, but I am not going to. With regard to the independent inquiry, the former leader of his party, the noble Baroness, Lady May, instituted a national inquiry. Some 7,000 victims gave evidence. There were 2 million pages of evidence to be considered; it took 99 months and cost £192.6 million. That inquiry and the recommendations by Professor Jay were delivered to the previous Government in October 2022 and there was no response: not a single recommendation was followed. In fact, the FT quoted a government veteran from the last Government as saying: “The report came out at an unfortunate time and was maybe to some extent forgotten or deprioritised”. This Government have sought to move as quickly as possible within our first nine months. We have acted on 17 of the recommendations made in the IICSA report and we are moving forward with local inquiries. We look forward to the response to the national audit that has been undertaken by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, which we will receive next month.

My Lords, the weekend’s tragic news of the death of Virginia Giuffre highlights the long-term effects of child sexual abuse. I should declare an interest, as my sister suffered serious sexual abuse as a child. Her entire life thereafter was dominated by its effect, with three serious suicide attempts by the age of 20 and mental illness for the rest of her life. On Monday, no Government Minister mentioned the involvement of gangs of men from the Asian subcontinent, yet this is precisely what led to inaction by police and other children’s safeguarding bodies, and public perception of a cover-up of deeply misogynist and racist crimes. Will the Government admit that this very serious national problem mainly involves men from a large UK minority; otherwise, they risk the democratic danger of appearing to pander to a key section of their voter base?

My Lords, I am so sorry to hear of the experiences of the noble Lord’s sister. I can only send my heartfelt support for her. The Home Office has doubled funding for supporting adult survivors, which is incredibly important when we consider the genuine scale of the issue. The British crime survey last year said that 11.5% of women had experienced child sexual abuse under the age of 16—these figures are horrendous. With regard to the question about perpetrators of crime, in January, the Home Secretary announced the national audit by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, on group-based sexual exploitation and abuse, which is in its final stages. The audit will improve national understanding of the scale, nature and profile of group-based violence, including the characteristics and ethnicity.

My Lords, on the comments that were just made, I begin by saying that as a British Muslim I was absolutely disgusted by the stories that have emerged about these grooming gangs. On behalf of my community, I would like to apologise for these sickening, despicable, wicked acts. Please believe me that many of us in the Muslim community are as absolutely appalled as the noble Lord or anyone else. This is not who we are. Many of these men, by the way, were abusing Muslim women as well as white women. Tonight, a film called “Groomed: A National Scandal” will be broadcast on Channel 4, in which victims of these sickening crimes by Pakistani gangs will tell their stories, and I hope that we will all watch it. The filmmaker Anna Hall has covered this story for more than 20 years; she is a leading expert. She argues that local inquiries are important but that a new public inquiry is not needed now as it could cause delays and that the seven-year Alexis Jay inquiry produced a good report. When will this Government crack on and implement the Jay recommendations, in particular a national child protection agency? If the Tories care so much about this issue, why did the previous Government fail to take any action on the Jay report for more than two years?

I, for one, will definitely watch the documentary outlined by my noble friend, after this evening’s votes. On the action we will take, some of the recommendations made by Professor Jay are very complex, including the creation of a child protection agency; it requires further work and consultation with victims. This Government want to take a victim-centred approach and we are working with all key stakeholders to develop the CPA. We want to make sure that we build it incrementally, with clarity on the end state—that is the right approach and one that, I believe, Professor Jay agrees with.

My Lords, I support the idea of having local inquiries, but some local authorities do not wish to have an inquiry. What will His Majesty’s Government do about that? Secondly, is the Minister convinced that these local authorities, some of which are financially challenged, have the resources to undertake this important work?

I thank the right reverend Prelate for both his question and the work he has done on this issue within the Church. We will set out the framework next month for how the local inquiries can be done and the associated funding that will be in place. We are very clear that everything must be victim-centred and that we use best practice when looking at these issues. We are working with those who delivered the best practice in Telford to make sure that, where there is community demand and, most importantly, victim-led demand, the resources and processes are in place to deliver a local inquiry.

My Lords, successive Governments have commissioned numerous inquiries into a wide range of issues, resulting in valuable reports and recommendations. Although most of the recommendations are usually accepted, there is rarely any systematic follow-up to ensure that the recommendations are implemented or to monitor their impact, resulting in important findings being ignored and a huge waste of taxpayers’ money. In light of that, can the Minister say whether the Government will consider establishing a dedicated system to ensure that all recommendations from such reports are both implemented and subject to ongoing monitoring, so that lessons are not lost and real change is delivered for victims and communities?

The noble Baroness raises a very interesting point, which was debated in your Lordships’ House on Friday, when I was the Minister responding. The Select Committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, on the role of public inquiries provides a potential framework for moving forward: its report recommends having a Select Committee that operates across both Houses to monitor the implementation of public inquiries. That is incredibly important work. If the recommendations of the Lakanal House coroners’ inquest inquiry had been followed, we would never have got to Grenfell.

My Lords, I am sure that everyone will be grateful to the Minister for her conciliatory points on the issue around the abusers and the disregard of them in the community—I thank her for that. I am also sure that everybody in this House also acknowledges that different Administrations have not done enough to resolve this issue. My right honourable friend in the other place, Katie Lam MP, made a Statement a couple of weeks ago and gave the most powerful speech about the issue, and I urge all noble Lords to watch it on YouTube. It was harrowing. I will not repeat everything, but I have to tell you that at one point, a young girl had four men inside her. This is a disgraceful issue that we must all work together to deal with. Can the Minister honestly say that His Majesty’s Government can look these girls in the face and tell them that they do not deserve a national inquiry?

My Lords, I think the noble Baroness has put her finger on exactly what we should be discussing: the impact of everything on the victims. We are talking about young women, and young boys in some cases, who have experienced the most heartbreaking and horrendous abuse. There is a responsibility on all Members of your Lordships’ House to put everything in place to make sure that this never, ever happens again. Those are easy words for someone standing at the Dispatch Box to say: we now have to deliver. With regard to the noble Baroness’s point about a public inquiry, we have had one and we now need to deliver on it.