Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Grooming Gangs Taskforce will investigate (a) police officers, (b) local councillors, (c) council officials and (d) social workers.

The Child Sexual Exploitation (or 'Grooming Gangs') Police Taskforce provides expert, on the ground support for local forces investigating child sexual abuse and exploitation, with a particular focus on complex and organised child sexual exploitation, including grooming gangs. Responsibility for those investigations remains with the relevant local police force, but the Taskforce continues to advise the relevant police force on how to manage any specific lines of investigation appropriately.

The Taskforce supported forces in making 807 arrests for group-based child sexual exploitation in 2024. The data held centrally does not allow individual cases to be tracked through the criminal justice system.

Further information on the Taskforce is available online at: https://www.hydrantprogramme.co.uk/cse-taskforce.