Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced plans to provide £5m for five government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs.
She said Tom Crowther, who led an inquiry in Telford, would help Oldham and four other pilot areas yet to be named, develop their own reviews.
Cooper also announced a “rapid” audit to examine the ethnicity and demographics of gangs and their victims, as well as the “cultural drivers” behind the offending.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was “wholly inadequate” for the government to back just five local inquiries and asked what support would be available for other areas.
He also expressed concern that the local inquiries would not have powers to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence under oath.
Between 1997 and 2013, towns and cities – including Oldham and Rotherham – were blighted by gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani descent, who raped and trafficked children as young as 11.
An independent report, published by Prof Alexis Jay in 2014, estimated 1,400 girls had been abused in Rotherham. She would later go on to lead a national review into child sexual abuse, which lasted seven years and made 20 recommendations when it was published in 2022.
The Conservatives have argued that the report did not sufficiently examine grooming gangs and called for new national inquiry.
In recent days three Labour MPs also publicly expressed support for a national inquiry – Dan Carden, Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, and Rochdale MP Paul Waugh.
Other senior Labour figures, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, also joined the calls, saying they would support a limited new inquiry.
The issue has been thrust into the spotlight by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has criticised the prime minister for not calling a national inquiry.
Musk responded to Cooper’s announcement by saying on his X platform: “I hope this is a proper investigation.”
Prof Jay rejected calls for a new national inquiry last week, saying victims want to see action on her recommendations and a new inquiry would cause delays.
The prime minister and Labour ministers have said their priority was to implement the Jay recommendations, and Cooper announced that one of the key points – mandatory reporting – would be added to the Crime and Policing Bill.
In a statement in the House of Commons, Cooper said that despite Prof Jay’s report and other inquiries, “shamefully little progress had been made”.
“That has got to change,” she said and added that by Easter, the government would set out a “clear timetable” for implementing the Jay report’s recommendations.
Cooper argued that “effective local inquiries can delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers, and change, than a lengthy nationwide inquiry can provide”
She said Tom Crowther, who led an inquiry in Telford, would help the government develop a new framework for “victim-centred locally-led inquiries where they are needed”.
She said this would begin by working with Oldham Council and up to four other pilot areas, with £5m being put up to “get work off the ground”.
Pressed on whether the inquiries would have legal powers to summon witnesses, Cooper said there were different approaches that could be taken and that the government would be working with local mayors and local councils to “make sure that we can strengthen the accountability arrangements”.
