Oldham, London, and Bradford and Keighley announced as first places to be investigated in Grooming Gangs Inquiry

Chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, the Inquiry will hold its first national public accountability hearings by the end of the year, with individuals and institutions “compelled to explain publicly what they did or did not do to protect children from being sexually abused and harmed by grooming gangs”.

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has been established in recognition of the harm experienced by victims and survivors of grooming gangs and the failures of statutory services that were supposed to protect them.

It responds to Recommendation 2 of Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (June 2025), which called for a time limited, targeted and proportionate inquiry into cases of failures or obstruction by statutory services in relevant local areas.

According to the announcement made yesterday, local area investigations in Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, and London will “examine in detail” at what happened in a particular place, including how children were targeted and exploited, how institutions and individuals responded, how victims and survivors were treated, and what needs to change.

Inquiry organisers noted that the first set of hearings will focus on Central Government departments, national police organisations, the CPS, politicians, local councils, the NHS, and others.

Secondly, the Inquiry will review whether institutions and individuals in areas which have already had reviews into grooming gangs, such as Telford, Rochdale, Oxford and Rotherham, have implemented the changes recommended to them following those previous investigations.

Organisers said: “The Inquiry has identified more than 800 recommendations relating to grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation and abuse across previous reviews, reports and inquiries dating back to the 1990s. Its ongoing analysis indicates that there has been significant inconsistency in how these recommendations have been implemented. Where recommendations have not been implemented, these accountability hearings will examine why not.”

Finally, the accountability hearings will investigate tech companies and the role of technology in the exploitation of children by grooming gangs.

According to organisers, the Inquiry will make early recommendations on all three parts of the national accountability hearings, which will then be tracked throughout the Inquiry.

Towards the end of the Inquiry, it will check its recommendations are being implemented through follow up public hearings.

Baroness Anne Longfield, Chair of the Inquiry, said: “The Inquiry’s task is to find out why this catastrophic failure of the state happened and continues to happen, to establish why victims and survivors of abuse were failed, and to hold to account those institutions and individuals who failed them.

“Our National Accountability Hearings will begin before the end of the year. There have been many inquiries and reviews into grooming gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse over the past 20 years, putting forward over 800 recommendations, many of which have not been implemented.

“These hearings will help us to establish what national institutions and services should have been doing to implement these findings and to protect children from abuse and harm - and what, if any, progress has been made in areas where investigations have taken place.

“We are determined that our work ensures that no further inquiries into grooming gangs will ever be needed.”

Lottie Winson