Eric Pickles: Rotherham children 'badly let down'

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has been responding to Louise Casey's report on the Rotherham child abuse scandal and has announced he will give control of the council to commissioners.

He told Parliament "the voice of the victims have to be clearly heard" and said the government could not in good conscience turn a blind eye.

Rotherham Borough Council's cabinet is to resign after the damning new report found the authority was "not fit for purpose".

A report into the failings at the council found a culture of bullying, sexism, suppression and misplaced "political correctness".

The report followed another investigation into the child sexual exploitation scandal in the town, in which around 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013.