Child Rape Gangs Debate

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Department: Home Office

Child Rape Gangs

Charlie Dewhirst Excerpts
Monday 28th April 2025

(1 day, 22 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips
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Group-based grooming, which includes some terrible examples of British children being groomed from abroad and vice versa, is something that we are acutely aware of. Whether it forms part of what Baroness Casey finds, I will leave to her to say. I will say, however, that it absolutely forms part of the strategy of work that the Government have laid out for preventing child sexual abuse.

Charlie Dewhirst Portrait Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)
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I am concerned that some of the people involved in local authority inquiries could be the very same individuals who have covered up these heinous crimes for years. Why is the Minister so unwilling to seek justice for the victims of these child rape gangs through a national statutory inquiry?

Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips
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I want to be clear that local inquiries must be independent. The chair of Telford inquiry was independent, and Professor Alexis Jay chaired the Rotherham inquiry. They are independent inquiries and they are not run by local authorities.