Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has announced that 1,273 closed cases of grooming abuse have been identified by police forces for formal review since January, with 216 cases being "accelerated as a matter of urgency".
In a statement to the Commons, Ms Phillips confirmed that the Government was closing in on the launch of the national inquiry into the abuse gangs scandal.
The minister said that both she and the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, had met with prospective candidates over the summer.
She said: "The chair must have credibility and experience to command the confidence of victims and survivors as well as the wider public.
"And meaningful engagement with victims and survivors is paramount.
"To support this, a dedicated panel of victims and survivors has been established, which will contribute to that chair selection process.
"This is a critical milestone, and once an appointment is confirmed, the House will be updated at the earliest opportunity."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp asked the minister if she would "confirm that the inquiry will look at those in authority who deliberately covered this up, because they were more interested in appeasing certain minority communities than they were in protecting young girls?"
Jess Phillips says 'no stone will be left unturned' by grooming gangs taskforce
|GB NEWS
He added: "Does she agree with me that those responsible for deliberately covering this up should be prosecuted for misconduct in public office, and if convicted, sent to jail?"
Responding to the Shadow Home Secretary, Ms Phillips said it was "absolute nonsense" to suggest that the inquiry would not go after anyone who covered up the abuse gangs.
"No stone will be left unturned. That will make difficult conversations for people.
"And if people are found by our court system to have undermined and disgracing public office, then of course they should be sent to prison."
In response to Chris Philp (pictured) Ms Phillips said it was 'absolute nonsense' to suggest that the inquiry would not go after anyone who covered up the abuse gangs
|FLICKR (HOUSE OF COMMONS)
"I very much hope we uncover the kind of social workers that he referred to and I hope that they face the full force of everything that they deserve to face."
The minister added that the government was now in the final stages of the appointment process for the chair of the national inquiry into grooming gangs, which was announced in June.
She said that the national policing operation recommended by Baroness Casey was now underway.
Jess Phillips added that in the first year of a Labour Government, the CSE Taskforce — launched by the previous Government after a GBN investigation — made 827 arrests nationwide, an 11 per cent rise on the previous year.
Ms Phillips pointed to the disproportionate role of Pakistani-heritage gangs during her update and said that the Government has committed to making it a requirement to collect ethnicity data, with the Home Secretary writing to police forces about this.
A spokesperson from #TheyKnew told GB News this morning that "it goes without saying that those who have committed offences should face the consequences, particularly public officials who so seriously failed to protect children from child sexual exploitation and abuse. This is exactly why we started the #theyknew campaign.
"The mechanisms by which the Government proposes to hold to account those public servants who failed in their duties to investigate these horrific crimes, and to protect vulnerable children, are no clearer as a result of this statement.
"In short, we’ve been served up more rhetoric when we what need is action and a genuine desire for justice."