Grooming gangs inquiry WILL examine ethnicity and religion as full extent of national probe finally unveiled

The terms of reference will now be laid before Parliament when it returns from recess on April 13.

After that, its full investigation into the group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales will formally begin.

The national probe was set up on the recommendation of Baroness Casey's National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

That audit confirmed systemic failures and institutional paralysis had allowed grooming gangs to operate for many years.

The inquiry announced today will look into how grooming gangs operated and how bodies including police, councils, health services, social care services and schools responded to abuse.

It will have the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents.

Any evidence of criminal conduct by professionals will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national policing operation launched last year to review hundreds of previously closed investigations.

The inquiry will hold public hearings, which will be live-streamed, with transcripts to be made available after each hearing.

Its findings will be published as they happen - rather than being held until a final report.

However, it does have limits: A maximum duration of three years, to conclude no later than March 2029, and a budget of £65million.

The probe will also conduct local investigations in areas where serious failures have been identified in response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

Oldham has been confirmed among the first areas to receive a local probe.

GB News's report that the town's call for a Government inquiry was rejected multiple times led to a an international outcry over the scandal at the start of 2025.

15 months later, the national inquiry's chairwoman, Baroness Longfield, has vowed to "not flinch from uncomfortable truths".

"Children across England and Wales were and are sexually abused and exploited," she said on Tuesday. "When they asked for help, they were too often disbelieved, dismissed or blamed. That is the reality this inquiry exists to address.

"Victims and survivors have every right to ask whether this inquiry will be any different from those that came before.

"My answer is this: where we can, we will publish our findings as we go, not in a single report years from now. There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find.

"We will follow the evidence wherever it leads. We will not flinch from uncomfortable truths."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country's history – where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

"The independent national inquiry will now begin its crucial work to uncover how these crimes were allowed to happen and root out failure wherever it occurred.

"The chair and I have agreed that the inquiry will be laser focused on grooming gangs and will explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture of the offenders and in the response of institutions.

"There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes."

Tory chief Kemi Badenoch, who has held public meetings with rape gang survivors, welcomed the "significantly strengthened" terms of reference.

"The initial draft did not, amongst other things, examine ethnicity and religion, nor did it ensure those in positions of authority like politicians or police officers would be investigated," she said.

"I am pleased the Conservatives' demands on these points, reflecting those of the survivors who contacted us, will be addressed. I thank Baroness Longfield for working with me constructively on this.

"The Conservatives will continue to work with the survivors and their families to examine the full terms once they are published."