Rotherham Child Abuse scandal: Prof John Drew to lead inquiry into South Yorkshire Police

Professor John Drew is a former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board

A former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board is to lead an inquiry into South Yorkshire Police's handling of reports of child sex abuse.

Professor John Drew has been appointed to examine whether the force's culture, leadership and performance hindered proper investigation of allegations.

The review, expected to take three months, is due to start in September and will be made public in early 2016.

A report found 1,400 children were abused in Rotherham from 1997 to 2013.

The report, by Professor Alexis Jay, said the force "gave no priority to child sexual exploitation, regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime."

In March a former South Yorkshire Police officer alleged the force failed to act over hundreds of claims of sexual abuse made by girls in Sheffield.

South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings, who commissioned the review, said he wanted it to be "fast but thorough".

'Restore public confidence'

He said: "I want a report at the end which satisfies me that South Yorkshire Police has genuinely acknowledged and fully addressed non-recent, as well as present day, occurrences of child sexual exploitation and I want to feel certain that robust plans are in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

"Most of all I want to restore public confidence in South Yorkshire Police."

What will the review cover?

Culture: Is the current organisational culture across the four districts a help or hindrance to future openness and transparency?

Effective appropriate leadership: Are South Yorkshire Police (SYP) leaders effectively driving the fight against child sexual exploitation?

Performance: Has a target-focused recording of crime mentality prevented SYP from effectively tackling child sexual exploitation sooner?

Victim focus: Is the victim at the forefront of all policing decisions within SYP?

Scale: Is the scale of the problem confined to Rotherham, or county-wide?

Partnership working: Do current partnership relationships allow for open and honest discussions to take place, with free exchange of information?

Prosecutions and case-building: Has SYP encouraged case-building against perpetrators of child sexual exploitation, acknowledging the intricacies of information gathering?

Resource management: Does current SYP technology allow for the effective recording and sharing of information and data regarding child sexual exploitation?

Three other inquiries - by the National Crime Agency, the Independent Police Complaints Commission and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary - are already underway.

Dr Billings said he was keen to avoid "unnecessary overlap".

Prof Drew has also worked as director of Social Services and Housing in the London Borough of Redbridge and county inspector of Social Services for Essex.