Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry

Lord Bishop of Manchester Excerpts

Monday 22nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The terms of reference for the inquiry are set out and the scope of the inquiry has been developed, and included in that are legal obligations to protect relevant information that was used by responsible individuals at the time. The conduct of the inquiry, with due respect, is a matter for my noble friend Lady Longfield to establish. It is not for Government to set out the terms of the inquiry. I have every confidence that she will address the issues that matter to this House. Self-evidently, the noble Baroness has raised an important issue to ensure that those who participated in issues that cause failings have an opportunity to explain and are held to account.

[The Lord Bishop of Manchester]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that some of the most vulnerable young people are those who are in care. Too often, we see young people put in care homes many hundreds of miles away from where their kinship relationships are, making them even more vulnerable. Will the Minster say what can be done to stop the practice of young people being moved to the poorest parts of the country, to the cheapest care homes, where they are made the most vulnerable of all?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

It is an important point. It is not directly within my gift to be able to answer that question, but I will make inquiries with my colleagues in the Department for Education for the right reverend Prelate. Whether people are moved to a poor area or a wealthy area, the issue of child sexual abuse is unacceptable, and the purpose of government policy is to ensure that sufficient safeguards are put in place, that criminal sanctions are there to be used, that the preventative measures that we have talked about today already are developed, and that the lessons from the inquiry conducted by my noble friend Lady Longfield are implemented as a matter of urgency. I will reflect on what he said, but the important point is that child sexual abuse is unacceptable wherever it comes from.