Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the police on the potential merits of commissioning a further investigation into abuse at Grafton Close covering the full period the home was operational.

The Government is committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, ensuring victims and survivors receive appropriate care and support and pursuing offenders and bringing them to justice.

Operation Fernbridge was a police‑led investigation that has now closed. The Operation resulted in one conviction for the sexual assault of a child at Grafton Close. Decisions about the scope, conduct and timing of individual police investigations are a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of Government.

The Government expects the police to robustly investigate all allegations of child sexual abuse and are investing in a range of capabilities to improve the policing response. More generally, the Government is driving forward work to act on the recommendations and learnings from IICSA, as part of a broader comprehensive approach to preventing, identifying and responding to all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, as set out in in the ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’ published in April 2025.