The author of the major review into grooming gangs which found authorities have “shied away” from the ethnicity of sex offenders will face questions from MPs.
Baroness Louise Casey will appear before the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning, after the Government set out plans to launch a new nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs following her rapid review of the scandal.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed officials have dodged the issue of ethnicity among the groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, even though available data showed suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday as the review was published, the Home Secretary said “much more robust national data is needed” on the ethnicity of offenders, adding that the authorities “cannot and must not shy away from these findings”.
Doing so would allow “the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities”, she added.
Lady Casey’s report found that: “The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more. Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years.”
It added: “We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.”
Multiple convictions of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds should have “warranted closer examination”, it said, adding: “Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it.”
Former Tory government adviser Dominic Cummings meanwhile claimed in an interview with Sky News that officials from the Department for Education were supportive of Rotherham Council’s suggestion of going to court in 2011 to prevent the Times’ initial reporting of the scandal in Rotherham.
Lord Michael Gove, then the education secretary, rejected the request for a judicial review on Mr Cummings’ advice, the broadcaster reported.
Ms Cooper said the Government would take action “immediately” on all of Lady Casey’s recommendations, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to launching a national inquiry into the abuse.
The recommendations included:
– Making it mandatory to collect ethnicity and nationality data of all suspects in child sexual abuse cases
– A new national inquiry into child sexual abuse with statutory legal powers, which will co-ordinate the efforts of local investigations led by councils and set out “strict timescales” for them to follow.
– A nationwide National Crime Agency operation, targeting people who have sexually exploited children, and following up on an estimated more than 1,000 cold cases where no one was convicted.
– A change in the law so that all adult sex with under-16s is considered rape.
– A review of criminal records held by victims of child sexual exploitation.
In the Commons, Ms Cooper “unequivocally” apologised for the failings which had led to grooming and child sexual abuse.
The Home Secretary also pledged to exclude convicted sex offenders from the asylum system, while the report warned “a significant proportion” of live investigations into grooming gangs “appear to involve suspects who are non-UK nationals and/or who are claiming asylum in the UK”.
In her report, Lady Casey said it is time to draw a line in the sand and take action over the issue, which she called “one of the most heinous crimes in our society”.
She also urged opposition politicians not to use the scandal as a “political football”, adding there was a chance to “create a national reset”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the PM of “cowardice” over the issue, writing in The Sun: “This has been an extraordinary failure of leadership from the PM. He was more worried about the views of his leftie lawyer mates than the brave survivors.
“For decades they have called for their abusers, and those who covered it up, to face justice.
“No one can be beyond scrutiny. And it must be swift. The PM’s cowardice made them wait longer than necessary. They must not wait another decade for justice.”
