Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timetable is for launching a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The Government is driving forward work to establish the National Inquiry into Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse under the Inquiries Act 2005. It will be overseen by an Independent Commission with statutory powers to compel evidence and testimony so that institutions can be held to account for current and historic failures. The inquiry will be independent of government and designed to command the confidence of victims and survivors and the wider public.

The first step in establishing the inquiry is the appointment of the Chair to the inquiry. A rigorous selection process is currently underway, which we are undertaking properly and thoroughly, with appropriate due diligence and meaningful engagement with victims and survivors. This is a non-negotiable part of this process and remains ongoing. Once the Chair is appointed, the Government will provide a full update to Parliament.

In line with the Inquiries Act, the appointed Chair will play a central role in shaping the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference. These will be published in draft once the Chair is appointed and subject to consultation with stakeholders, including victims and survivors.