Grooming gangs inquiry expanded to Wales

Flora Thompson, Press Association Home Affairs Correspondent

The grooming gangs inquiry has launched investigations in Wales and Birmingham.

Announcing the news on Wednesday, the inquiry said both probes will “examine the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by grooming gangs and the response of organisations responsible for protecting children”.

The scandal-hit inquiry said in June that London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley would be the first towns and cities it would focus on as it looks at areas of the country where serious failures have been identified in the response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

“Each investigation will help the inquiry establish why institutions and organisations failed to protect victims and survivors of abuse, and feed directly into its national findings and recommendations,” the inquiry said in a statement.

The Government faced a stream of criticism over its handling of the probe.

Sir Keir Starmer initially resisted calls for a national inquiry last year after tech billionaire Elon Musk sparked a political row when he used his X social media platform to attack the then-prime minister over the long-running scandal.

In the wake of the U-turn on ordering the inquiry, efforts to set up the body and start work were fraught with delays, resignations and rows about its scope.

During his election campaign as he bid for the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham insisted he “acted immediately” on grooming gangs while he was mayor of Greater Manchester and criticised others for manipulating the facts.

Former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield is leading the £65 million three-year inquiry, which has the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents.

She said the inquiry will “follow the evidence wherever it leads”.

So far more than 800 recommendations about tackling grooming gangs, child sexual exploitation and abuse across numerous reviews, reports and inquiries dating back to the 1990s have been identified by the inquiry team, with analysis indicating there has been “significant inconsistency in how these recommendations have been implemented”.

The inquiry previously said it will examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and if they shaped the institutional response.

Any evidence of crimes uncovered will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national police operation launched last year to review hundreds of previously closed investigations.

More investigations are expected to be announced in future and the inquiry plans to hold its first public hearings by the end of the year.

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