Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will launch an inquiry into grooming and rape gangs.

The Government's priority is to take action on delivering against the recommendations of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). The Home Secretary announced on 6th January that we will be bringing in mandatory reporting, making grooming an aggravating factor in CSA cases, and setting up a new panel to ensure victims' and survivors' voices are prioritised in future policy making.

The Government will continue to support further inquiries that are needed, which can expose failings and wrongdoings in local areas and institutions. It is right that these take place at a localised level so that those are responsible for delivering services work to ensure lessons are learnt and that local partners are doing all they can to improve their response. We support local areas like Oldham Council, who have confirmed that work to set up a further local inquiry is already underway.

The Government invest in the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce (or 'Grooming Gangs Taskforce') which provides practical, expert, on the ground support for local forces investigating complex, group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation, with a focus on grooming gangs.

The Taskforce collect and report on data on group-based offending quarterly. 'Group-based' offending in this context includes any offence with two or more perpetrators. This will include - but is not limited to - 'grooming gang' type offending; other 'group-based' offending includes intra-familial and peer-on-peer abuse, for example.

In November 2024, the Taskforce published 2023 data on group-based offending (available here: https://www.hydrantprogramme.co.uk/publications/hydrant-publications#LatestNews) which includes data on ethnicity. However, it is important to note that ethnicity data is limited and should be treated with caution. The Government will be working with the Taskforce to improve data collection, including dealing with the issues around ethnicity.