Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which four councils will be required to have government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs, in addition to Oldham.

In June this year, Baroness Casey published her independent audit into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, and the Government accepted every recommendation it made, including establishing a new national inquiry. The national inquiry, equipped with statutory powers under the Inquiries Act 2005, will direct targeted local reviews in specific areas.

The former Home Secretary previously committed in January to provide guidance and establish a £5 million fund which would have supported non-statutory local inquiries. Our new approach of establishing a national statutory inquiry, will be strengthened through its statutory powers – therefore, we have discontinued work related to the previously announced guidance and £5 million fund.

We are in the process of identifying an appropriate Inquiry Chair with the credibility and experience to command the confidence of victims, survivors and the public. They will be announced in due course.

Once the Chair is appointed, they will play a central role in shaping the inquiry’s terms of reference, alongside identifying the first local areas for review.