Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether, as part of Recommendation 2 of the Casey Audit, the Cabinet Office has yet issued a formal instruction or preservation notice requiring the retention of records relevant to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

In her Audit, Baroness Casey made clear that local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies should be required not to destroy any relevant records, and we expect this to be the case. The Home Office has made the requirement clear to departments across government with responsibility for relevant agencies. The Terms of Reference for the inquiry, once established and agreed with the Chair, will set the scope of the inquiry in more detail, at which point a more detailed request for the retention of records can be made.