London will be among the first places to be investigated by the national independent inquiry into grooming gangs.
The other areas to be subject to local investigations will be Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, the inquiry has said.
The £65m statutory inquiry was set up to address systemic failures in how institutions responded to child sexual exploitation and abuse committed by grooming gangs which has caused serious and long-lasting harm to victims and survivors.
The local investigations will examine in detail what happened in each area, including how children were targeted and exploited, the response of individuals and institutions, how victims and survivors were treated, and what now needs to change.
The inquiry, which will be chaired by former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, will compel individuals and institutions to explain publicly what they “did or did not do to protect children from being sexually abused and harmed”.
The Met has said it is reviewing 9,000 historic cases of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse from the last 15 years, where the outcome was no further action by police or the Crown Prosecution Service .
Outlining its reasons to choose London, the inquiry stated: “ Early investigation of London is justified by a combination of factors. It presents a different context from many other local areas because of its scale and relationship as a capital city with other areas of England and Wales.
“It has the largest Police force in the country and a complex system with multiple boroughs and national organisations involved. It has the highest rate of referrals for child sexual exploitation in the Country.
“The Inquiry will build a clearer picture of what is happening in London and its role in the national picture, including the current work the London assembly are doing on grooming gangs.
“The inquiry will consider the wider network of grooming gangs across London’s satellite towns and cities. It will investigate the role of London in the national network of grooming gangs.”
It said: “Local Area Investigations will examine group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse by grooming gangs within a defined local area.
“The focus is on the adequacy of institutional responses, the extent of systemic or leadership failures and whether children were effectively safeguarded from grooming gangs
“The Investigation will identify causes and consequences of any failures, including structural deficiencies, cultural factors, failures in information-sharing and errors of professional judgement in the identification, prevention and response to group based child sexual exploitation and abuse by grooming gangs.”
The investigations will also help feed into the national picture.
London has been at the centre of a political row over grooming gangs and the scale of the problem in the capital.
Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of dismissing grooming gangs after when questioned on the issue, the London Mayor said the focus in the city was primarily on county lines drug dealing.
But in October last year the Met Police said it was reexamining 9,000 cases of child exploitation as part of a major review into grooming gangs in London.
The development came after a Standard investigation uncovered cases of vulnerable young girls from across the capital who reported allegations of rape from multiple men but saw inadequate police action.
