Grooming gangs report to be published

The findings of a national audit into the sexual exploitation and abuse of children by grooming gangs in England and Wales will be announced later.

Baroness Casey has looked into the scale and nature of grooming and considered data on the gangs and their victims, including ethnicity.

Ahead of its publication the prime minister announced at the weekend that, having read the report, there would now be a national statutory inquiry into the issue.

Downing Street said the inquiry would look "specifically at how young girls were failed so badly by different agencies on a local level".

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham told the BBC there was an "intense frustration that there were still victims and survivors who haven't seen justice."

She said there were people who, "if not held to a criminal standard, should be held to a professional standard for their negligence in protecting these children".

Emma, a grooming survivor, urged other victims to "speak up".

"It's not OK to be groomed," she said. "Speak out if you feel that something's not right. Don't be scared."

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed there had been a "deliberate cover-up" by police, local authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service and he wanted the national inquiry to result in misconduct in public office prosecutions.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will address the Commons later as the Casey review is published.

In January, Cooper announced the three-month audit into ethnicity data and the demographics of grooming gangs and their victims, as well as the cultural and societal drivers for this offending.

Meanwhile, the Home Office said a nationwide policing operation to bring grooming gang members to justice will be led by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Police have reopened more than 800 historic cases of child sexual abuse by groups since the home secretary asked them to review cases in January.

"The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children," Cooper said.

"Not enough people listened to them then," the home secretary added. "That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now."

As well as historic investigations, the NCA will look at current cases with the aim to imprison more perpetrators and improve how police forces investigate crimes.

It will also aim to "put an end to the culture of denial in local services and authorities about the prevalence of this crime", the Home Office said.

Baroness Casey has recommended the government follow "best practice law enforcement examples in the NCA and in West Yorkshire Police", a Home Office source told the BBC.

Cooper is set to address the findings of the review by Baroness Casey in Parliament on Monday

The Home Office said the national inquiry would be able to "compel" investigations into "historic cases of grooming gang crimes" and it will have the power to call witnesses.

That would ensure complaints and allegations of "mishandling, wrongdoing and cover-ups by police, agencies and other professionals and elected officials are brought to light and those responsible held accountable", the Home Office added.

But former chief prosecutor for North West England, Nazir Afzal, said he had doubts about a national inquiry as they "take forever and don't deliver accountability".

"Only criminal investigations can bring real accountability," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "That's what needs to happen. Not just for those who offended, but also those who stood by and didn't do what they were meant to do."

On Saturday, Sir Keir said he would accept Baroness Casey's recommendation for the inquiry covering England and Wales.

The prime minister had faced criticism for not being willing to set up a national inquiry, with the Conservatives claiming they had forced him into a U-turn.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk was also among those who criticised Sir Keir for not earlier calling a national inquiry.

A row between the two centred on high-profile cases where groups of men, mainly of Pakistani descent, were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young white girls in towns such as Rotherham and Rochdale.

In January the government argued the grooming gangs issue had already been examined in a seven-year inquiry by Prof Alexis Jay.

Cooper unveiled plans for five government-backed local inquiries - in Oldham and four other areas yet to be named - as well as Baroness Casey's review.

Previous government reports, reviews, inquiries and investigations over the past 15 years have already warned about group-based child sexual exploitation.

Prof Jay's report, which finished in October 2022 under the previous government, made 20 recommendations for change but none have been implemented.