Child Sexual Abuse and Rape Gangs Inquiry

Question

15:38:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure the statutory inquiry into child sexual abuse and rape gangs is conducted swiftly and does not delay justice for victims.

The Government are determined to root out the horrific crimes of grooming gangs and to secure justice for victims. We have accepted the 12 recommendations made by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, including the recommendation to establish a national inquiry under the Inquiries Act. The inquiry will be time-limited and will have statutory powers to direct targeted investigations into local areas, with the aim of holding institutions to account for current and historical failures in their response to group-based child sexual exploitation.

I thank my noble friend the Minister for his Answer. I welcome this inquiry. I just want to say that, as a Muslim woman, I apologise profoundly for what these wicked men have done to white, working-class girls. Many of us feel deeply ashamed. Let us not call them “grooming gangs”; these are rape gangs that operated on an industrial level. I hope that the inquiry will hear the voices of Muslim girls who were also abused by these animals. The Minister talked about a time limit. Could the inquiry be capped at two years, because justice delayed is justice denied? Given the public interest, will this inquiry be televised? Finally, given the incredible work that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has done, can she be appointed as the chair of it because, in a world of appalling systemic failure, she is the only public figure whom many victims trust?

I am grateful to my noble friend, and I place on record from this Dispatch Box my thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, for the 197-page report that she presented, on the Government’s request, in the five months since January of this year. My noble friend asked about the timescale for the inquiry. The noble Baroness, Lady Casey, indicated that it would be around three years. I would like to see it speeded up, but we have to discuss that matter with the potential chair of the inquiry. The Government intend to try to recruit the chair of the inquiry as a matter of some speed, and we are in the process of doing that now. The noble Baroness, Lady Casey, herself, is now going to be engaged in a further report, but we will appoint a chair as soon as possible. As to the matter of televising the proceedings, again, if my noble friend will bear with me, that will be a matter for discussion with the chair to determine. We want to ensure that we take action speedily on this issue, which is why we have accepted all 12 recommendations, and why the 11 that are not related to the national inquiry will be implemented in very short order by this Government.

Will the grooming gangs inquiry include Scotland, and, if not, why not?

The grooming gangs inquiry is looking at all areas of the United Kingdom. We have a responsibility in the Home Office for England and Wales, but it is important that we consult and discuss with devolved Administrations, because there are 500,000 victims of child abuse across the United Kingdom; 100,000 of those are related to child exploitation; and our job is to reduce the number of victims and hold those perpetrators to account.

My Lords, the report of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, shows years of inaction by Governments and many different authorities in the past, despite victims’ brave whistleblowing. Now is the time to right the wrongs. How do the Government plan to put victims at the heart of the national inquiry, in particular so that they do not have to repeat their existing testimony again and again? Much of it has already been covered in inquiry reports and court cases.

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. She will know that the IICSA report under Alexis Jay was involved for seven years in looking at this very issue and made 20 recommendations to the Government three years ago. The then Government did not act on any of those recommendations. We have picked up the recommendations since July last year and are now implementing those recommendations. The further recommendations that the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has brought before the House and the Government are now on a programme for implementation, including the national inquiry. I think it is important that the incoming chair, whoever he or she may be, has an opportunity to reflect on the previous product of victim testimony and determine what to do with that product and how best to involve victims in future. It is important that victims have their say and that the outcome of this is action to prevent future victims.

My Lords, if a medical threat occurs, we tend to find and pinpoint the cause. If there is a threat to social health, we tend to camouflage the cause of the concern. An example is the use of the term “Asian grooming gangs”, which was prevalent at one time. I pointed out that it was about as helpful as saying that “Europeans” were responsible for the Holocaust. We need to pinpoint the actual cause. Ethnicity, now talked about, has a subset, religion, and there are dated texts embedded in religious texts that have very negative attitudes to women. It is time that those were exposed and brought up to today’s more enlightened times.

One of the key recommendations from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, is to ensure that we have some ethnic minority data monitoring on offenders who have committed those offences. Some police forces have collected that, and some have not. We are accepting the recommendation, and we will be issuing guidance to police forces on collecting ethnic data. There are a range of people who abuse; there is a focus on grooming gangs from particular communities, but I say to the House that, in every particular community—white, Asian, Muslim and others—members of the community commit offences. We should not ignore the fact that people from a range of ethnic backgrounds commit offences; what we should be doing is monitoring it.

My Lords, I appreciate that the Minister says that they are already looking for a chair. It is an interesting new model from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey. How long do the Government anticipate it will take to set up that new independent commission and set its terms of reference before its actual work starts?

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. We are trying to do that as quickly as possible. I cannot give a definitive date, but if I say to her that we want to get this started as quickly as possible, I hope she will understand that I am trying to do that. I will report back to this House in due course when that is possible to do.

My Lords, as has already been alluded to, our foremost priority must be to those who have suffered so badly, to ensure that their voices are not only heard but placed at the centre of our next steps. Justice must be delivered, and it must be delivered swiftly. Can the Minister therefore outline what specific steps the Government are taking to support victims at this stage? In particular, how do they intend to ensure that any investigation is thorough and timely, with particular reference to those in authority who have failed the victims so far, and that the investigation truly reflects the urgency and seriousness that the noble Baroness, Lady Hazarika, has rightly emphasised?

One of the key recommendations from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, was that we review convictions of victims and look at how victims have experienced the system. We have accepted that recommendation in full, and we will be bringing forward measures in the Crime and Policing Bill very shortly, which is finishing its progress in the other place this very day. It will be with this House, at least for Second Reading, before the Summer Recess, I hope. We will have amendments to that Bill in Committee stage that will deal with victim support.

My Lords, I welcome the Casey review, but I urge the Government to take every opportunity possible to implement Alexis Jay’s recommendations—not only in the policing Bill but in the Bill already in this House, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. There are opportunities in there that we can implement in those Bills. The victims of those horrific crimes cannot wait any longer. This Government and this House should be leading that fight to get justice for those victims of rape gangs, which existed right across the country.

The noble Lord is absolutely right, which is why, when this Government came into office in July last year, we looked at the Alexis Jay recommendations, determined that no action had been taken for the previous 20 months on those and determined to take action on them. That is why, in the Crime and Policing Bill, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and other measures that we have brought forward, we have met every recommendation in that report, and we will make sure they are implemented in full.

My Lords, following the grooming gang trial in the north-east, in Newcastle, the safeguarding committee said that one of the institutions that needed to be looked at was how the court undertook the trial, and that cross-examination had been used as another weapon against the young women. I met and talked with those who had supported the young women before and during the trial, because the charity I chaired had taken that job on, and they were horrified at how the young women had suffered yet again during the trial. Can we begin to think about how we look at these trials and the cross-examination that the young women are put through?

I am grateful to my noble friend. I think it is very important that we recognise that the experience of victims in giving evidence, particularly when faced with their perpetrators, is extremely traumatic. We should be ensuring that we make the court procedure as smooth as possible. There are no recommendations in the report from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, about that particular issue, but I will take back my noble friend’s comments and discuss them with the Ministry of Justice. If other Members wish to continue questions on this today, this is the hors d’oeuvre for a Statement at 7.30 this evening, when other contributions will be welcome.