Child sexual abuse inquiry chair urges government to act

Professor Alexis Jay led a landmark inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales

Prof Alexis Jay, the former chair of a national inquiry into child sexual abuse, has called for the "full implementation" of reforms set out in her 2022 report, which warned of "endemic" abuse across society in England and Wales.

A campaign group chaired by Prof Jay, called Act on IICSA, said ministers must commit to a "clear timeline" to adopt the recommendations laid out by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). The government says it supports the changes.

The group warned against "politicising" sexual violence and pushed back against "misinformation".

Prof Jay also distanced herself from calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a new inquiry into grooming gangs.

The IICSA national inquiry was set up in 2015 and carried out 15 investigations, including into grooming gangs and abuse in schools and church settings.

Prof Jay had previously led a landmark local inquiry into widescale abuse in Rotherham, where it was estimated 1,400 children were exploited between 1997 and 2013, predominantly by men of Pakistani heritage.

The IICSA's final report was published in 2022 and set out 20 recommendations it said were necessary to reduce child suffering.

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They included setting up a national child protection authority, implementing tighter controls on who can work with vulnerable children, legislating to force tech firms to take stronger action over online abuse material and making not reporting abuse a criminal offence.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Act on IICSA said: "Politicising the issue of sexual violence fails to acknowledge its lifelong impact and hinders the implementation of vital and urgent overhaul to our systems required."

Prof Jay said: "Our mission is not to call for new inquiries but to advocate for the full implementation of IICSA's recommendations."

A Home Office spokesperson said it was "working at pace across government" to implement the report's recommendations.

She has previously said she was "frustrated" at the previous Conservative government's lack of progress in adopting the recommendations, and described its response as "weak", which the Home Office disputed at the time.

Sir Keir Starmer is due to hold a press conference on Monday about the NHS, but is likely to also be asked about grooming gangs and for his response to Prof Jay's comments.

The prime minister is expected to defend his time as director of public prosecutions (DPP), including giving the green light to prosecute those involved in grooming gangs in Rochdale and reorganising the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to tackle grooming gangs.

On Sunday, Act on IICSA said recent media coverage of child sexual abuse had highlighted a "troubling trend of misinformation that undermines the true scale of the crisis and the pressing need for reform".

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government was prioritising "getting on with" implementing the recommendations.

'Cannot delay any longer'

Lucy Duckworth, a member of Act on IICSA, welcomed Streeting's comments saying: "We are really hopeful, especially with the recent news coverage, that the government is soon going to provide a really clear timeline on when they're going to do this."

She said one problem is that a lot of child protection issues fall across several government departments - making communication tricky - and she wants to see a child protection authority bridge that gap.

"I don't think that we can afford to delay any longer and another inquiry will have that delay," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Neil Basu - former head of counter-terrorism policing - welcomed the news that the government was committed to implementing the Jay report.

"We've had 10 years of public inquiries, £2m spent, and a brilliant report done by [Prof] Jay which should be implemented," he said.

"That is a much more positive way of dealing with this than effectively re-litigating an inquiry because it's politically useful."

Prof Jay's comments came after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for a national public inquiry into the UK's "rape gangs scandal" on Thursday, which Reform leader Nigel Farage also supports.

The issue of grooming gangs was put back in the spotlight after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council's request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation in the town, in favour of a locally-led investigation.

That decision was criticised by senior Tory and Reform figures, while billionaire Elon Musk also fuelled online anger over the move in a series of posts on social media.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said he would support a national inquiry into grooming gangs, but stressed that a review into Greater Manchester Police which he launched in 2017 was ongoing.

"Nobody has turned away, we have faced up directly to the failings," Burnham said, adding that the review has led to arrests, charges and convictions.

"For us, we must complete the greater Manchester review, the police investigations are ongoing, I wouldn't want anything to cut across those police investigations. But I wouldn't stand against a further national review if that was deemed necessary."