The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced a £10 million plan for a series of local inquiries into grooming gangs
In a statement in the House of Commons she said that Baroness Louise Casey will also oversee a “rapid” review of the current scale of exploitation across the country
There will be five new inquiries, including one in Oldham and will be advised by Tom Crowther KC, who led the Telford grooming gang inquiry published in 2022.
The inquiries will focus on the “cultural drivers” and ethnicity of the gangs with plans to change the way such data is collected.
The Home Secretary will also urge police chiefs in England and Wales to look at historic grooming gangs cases with the intention of opening cold for reinvestigation.
And she will set a deadline of Easter 2025 for the publication of a timetable for taking forward the recommendations in the final Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse report.
The Shadow Home Secretary criticised the announcement saying only five towns would be subject to the local inquiries
Chris Philip said “we know over 50 towns are affected” by the grooming scandal.
“How are the other 40 plus towns going to get the support they need”
