Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with police forces on moving the criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police into the alleged abuse of grooming gang victims by South Yorkshire Police officers to an independent body.

Following discussions between the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), South Yorkshire Police, and the National Crime Agency (NCA), it has been formally agreed that the investigation will now be carried out by the NCA under the direction and control of the IOPC.

In line with the Inquiries Act 2005, the Chair of the National Inquiry into Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, once appointed, will play a central role in shaping the inquiry’s Terms of Reference. These will be published in draft and consulted on with stakeholders, including victims and survivors, before being finalised. The Inquiry will have full statutory powers to investigate systemic and institutional failings wherever they are found. Where the Inquiry finds evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing, it will provide the material to the relevant police force for investigation.