Offences against Children
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department with Cabinet colleagues to help seek justice for every victim of grooming gangs.
Answered by Jess Phillips
On 16 June 2025, the Home Secretary made a statement to Parliament announcing Government's acceptance of all the recommendations made in Baroness Louise Casey's independent National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in England and Wales.
The Government is now moving swiftly to act on these recommendations which includes the establishment of a national inquiry into Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation, with the power to go into local areas, gather evidence, talk to victims, compel witnesses to appear, and to get to the truth of institutional failures.
We have also announced that the police will launch a new national criminal operation into group-based child sexual exploitation, overseen by the National Crime Agency, against a backdrop of continued investment in other work to strengthen law enforcement capacity and capability to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce which - since July 2023 - has supported the arrest of over 1300 individuals and protected thousands of victims.
Both initiatives will operate in parallel with continued commitment from Government to strengthen efforts to tackle this abhorrent crime and improve victims and survivors' access to justice.
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