Today marks four months since Keir Starmer announced there would be a statutory national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Since June 14, there have been limited updates.
Louise Casey, whose audit sparked the decision to launch the probe, said the inquiry should take up to 3 years, which would see it return before the next election.
Our viewers and listeners have been urgently seeking information about the status of the process. In September, the Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips gave an update about progress made by the Home Office. She confirmed that the National Crime Agency had launched its policy operation, titled Beaconport, to review over a thousand cold cases and conduct fresh investigations into the nationally linked abuse networks. GB News revealed earlier this year the extent of these trafficking networks, demonstrating the widespread links between abusers, showing for the first time how many of the towns and cities affected by this form of abuse were connected by this criminality, with many gangs operating as though they were above the law. In some areas, they were.
But at the start of September, Jess Phillips also promised that the Home Office was in the "final stages" of the appointment process. Six weeks have passed since then and still no chair has been selected. Now I've had a few drawn-out job interviews in my time, but the final stage isn't typically expected to drag out over several months. Is it possible that the government is struggling to find a judge to lead the process? Is the issue now so politically toxic, caused in part by Labour's far-right smears in January and their months of delay generating a Westminster row on the crisis, that no judge wants to take up the responsibility of directing this probe?
Why I fear that the grooming gangs inquiry could face delay and lose focus - Charlie Peters
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This started as a worry at the back of my head, but now it is ringing loudly.
GB News has been speaking with survivors, their families and lawyers central to the process since the summer, tracking progress (or lack thereof) and their views about the inquiry.
Earlier this month, we revealed that Oldham — first guaranteed an inquiry by former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in January — had over the summer been offered a 'truth project' instead. Survivors were horrified, fearing that the government was attempting to smuggle in a weaker review that would not lead to any justice. When I approached them for comment, I was concerned that the news could cause anger and dismay, but they are so resilient in Oldham: they will keep fighting for the full inquiry they have demanded and been promised.
Today we can reveal that grooming gang survivors across the country are expressing fears that the national inquiry could be expanded to cover "other elements" of CSE, adding to concern that the investigation could be diluted.
Several survivors involved in the inquiry process have told GB News that they feared the inquiry would no longer have a specific focus on grooming gangs. Others have also told me that they fear the model of the inquiry will not look into specific locations.
Many survivors have recently joined a panel to guide the Home Office on selecting a chair and the terms of reference. Some have raised concerns about the process being “survivor-led,” adding that the Government should already know what the problems are after Casey’s audit of the crisis earlier this year.
One survivor said they were worried that by labelling the process "survivor-led", it would make it harder for its scope to be challenged politically. Especially if it is widened to include issues beyond grooming gangs.
Earlier this month, we revealed that Oldham — first guaranteed an inquiry by former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in January — had over the summer been offered a 'truth project' instead.
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They don't want another IICSA, which looked at CSE across the country in several institutions. They have told me that now is the time for specific focus into this form of abuse, which has evaded inspection and understanding. The cultural, ethnicity and religious drivers behind these abuse networks remain hidden by an establishment that appears to fear investigating the truth.
And we've also heard some troubling testimony from David Greenwood, one of the country's leading abuse solicitors, who has described the inquiry process as a "legal mess".
He's warned today that, because the Government failed to launch those five inquiries it promised in January, the inquiry is going to spend ages gathering evidence, delaying the process further.
His comments are stark. The delay will be "unacceptably long" for survivors as the timeframe could push it to returning beyond the next election.
“It will make it worse for the Government. Keir Starmer is going to look silly," Mr Greenwood told me.
The Home Office insist it will do everything in its power to ensure these crimes never happen again.
It says the inquiry will have the resources and powers it needs to get the truth and deliver for survivors.
But if the right questions aren't asked, and if the 'legal mess' that David Greenwood is warning about pushes it into a quagmire of delay, then promises of truth and justice might start to ring hollow.