The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has announced its first areas for local investigations: Oldham, Bradford, Keighley, and London. Further areas will be confirmed in due course.
Scope of the Inquiry
The probe will also examine whether other regions that have previously conducted reviews into grooming gangs—such as Telford, Rochdale, Oxford, and Rotherham—have implemented the recommended changes. The inquiry focuses on the exploitation and sexual abuse of children and the failure of national and local authorities to protect them over decades.
Local Investigations Underway
Oldham was designated as a local area for investigation last year, with evidence already being gathered. In Bradford and Keighley, concerns raised by victims, survivors, campaigners, and elected representatives over many years will now be directly examined by the inquiry. In London, the inquiry will assess how group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse by grooming gangs has been identified and responded to, including London's links with surrounding areas. It will also consider relevant ongoing work, such as that by the London Assembly.
Victims and Survivors Charter
Alongside these announcements, the inquiry is publishing its Victims and Survivors Charter, which outlines how victims and survivors will be supported to share their experiences and influence the inquiry's work.
Chair's Statement
Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, Chair of the Inquiry, stated: "The Inquiry’s task is to find out why this catastrophic failure of the state happened and continues to happen, to establish why victims and survivors of abuse were failed, and to hold to account those institutions and individuals who failed them. Our National Accountability Hearings will begin before the end of the year. There have been many inquiries and reviews into grooming gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse over the past 20 years, putting forward over 800 recommendations, many of which have not been implemented. These hearings will help us to establish what national institutions and services should have been doing to implement these findings and to protect children from abuse and harm - and what, if any, progress has been made in areas where investigations have taken place. We are determined that our work ensures that no further inquiries into grooming gangs will ever be needed."
