The Home Office is launching an inquiry into potential "cultural drivers" behind grooming gangs, Sajid Javid has announced.
In a speech on child sexual exploitation, the home secretary said: "We've witnessed horrendous abuse perpetrated by gangs who have been persistent and determined in places like Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford, Newcastle and Telford.
"Keeping our children safe will be my mission as home secretary. I have already been clear that I will ask difficult questions about the gangs who sexually abuse our children. There will be no no-go areas of inquiry. I will not let cultural or political sensitivities get in the way of understanding the problem and doing something about it.
"We know that in these recent high-profile cases, where people have been convicted, that those people are disproportionately from a Pakistani background. I have instructed my officials to explore the particular context and characteristics of these types of gangs and if the evidence suggests that there are cultural factors that may be driving this type of offending, then I will take action."
Mr Javid's speech came amid numerous ongoing criminal investigations into child sexual exploitation across Britain.
Police have warned of the existence of several different "models" of grooming, including online, through personal relationships and using drink and drugs.
One senior officer previously told The Independent that grooming was taking place "in towns and cities up and down the country".
Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the National Police Chief’s Council lead for child protection, said much of the current abuse was associated with “county lines” drug dealing, which sees criminal gangs supply from cities into rural areas – frequently using children to run the contraband in efforts to evade police.
“There is a really strong link between drug trafficking and the sexual exploitation of both girls and boys,” he warned.
“The ‘Muslim grooming gangs’ are just one model of child sexual exploitation and not the most prolific.
“The most prolific is peer-on-peer abuse and one form of that is in a gang environment, with the exploitation of people who are wrapped up in drug trafficking and then abused.”
Research published by the Quilliam think-tank in December claimed that 84 per cent of people convicted of child grooming offences since 2005 have been Asian.
It said white offenders often acted alone, while child abusers from Asian backgrounds were more likely to work in so-called grooming gangs.
But investigations have found offenders from a wide range of backgrounds, and not all convicts in high-profile cases have been Asian, while not all of their victims were white.
Grooming gangs came into national focus following the grooming scandal in Rotherham, where an ongoing investigation by the National Crime Agency has identified more than 1,500 potential victims.
Meanwhile, more child sex offences being committed online are being recorded than ever before and the NCA estimates that 80,000 people pose a sexual threat to children online.
On Monday, Mr Javid called on technology firms to treat child sex abuse images with the same severity as terrorist propaganda to crack down on paedophiles' use of the internet to target children.
He threatened the prospect of unspecified new laws if sufficient action was not taken to stop platforms being used to groom, blackmail and abuse victims.
"In recent years there has been some good work in this area, but the reality is that the threat has evolved quicker than the industry's response and industry has not kept up. There are some companies out there that refused to take this seriously," Mr Javid said.
“I am not just asking for change, I am demanding it. And the public is expecting it too.
“And if web giants do not take more measures to remove this type of content from their platforms, then I won't be afraid to take action. How far we legislate will be informed by the action and attitude that the industry takes.”
