Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will commission an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford.

The Government is committed to uncovering whether victims of child sexual abuse have been failed in the past. That is why we set up the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, to expose what has gone wrong and learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry has already announced that it is investigating institutional responses to child sexual exploitation by organised networks.

Officials from Telford and Wrekin Council wrote to the Home Office on 13 March 2018, requesting that the Government commission a separate inquiry into events in Telford. Home Office officials have, in subsequent discussions with Council officials, made clear that events in Telford are within the terms of reference set for the Independent Inquiry. It is for the Independent Inquiry to decide how it goes about its investigations. It is for the Council to decide if it wishes to commission a separate inquiry locally.