Grooming gangs inquiry to examine role of ethnicity, culture and religion

Grooming gangs inquiry to examine role of ethnicity, culture and religion Inquiry will directly look at whether factors influenced offending and institutional response in England and Wales UK politics live – latest updates The grooming gangs inquiry will directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response. The statutory independent inquiry has published its terms of reference, which will be laid before parliament when it returns from recess on 13 April. The inquiry will then begin its full investigation into the group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales. It will look into how grooming gangs operated and how institutions, including the police, local authorities, health services, social care services and schools, responded to the abuse. It will have the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents. Any evidence of criminal conduct by professionals will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national policing operation launched last year to review hundreds of previously closed investigations. The inquiry will conduct local investigations in areas where serious failures have been identified in response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs. Oldham has been confirmed among the first areas. The inquiry is being chaired by Anne Longfield, a former children’s commissioner for England. Lady Longfield said: “Children across England and Wales were and are sexually abused and exploited. When they asked for help, they were too often disbelieved, dismissed or blamed. That is the reality this inquiry exists to address. “Victims and survivors have every right to ask whether this inquiry will be any different from those that came before. My answer is this: where we can, we will publish our findings as we go, not in a single report years from now. There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find...