The national inquiry into child sexual abuse will not follow the traditional model of public hearings so it can complete most of its work by 2020, its chair has announced.
Prof Alexis Jay said that taking a “one size fits all” approach to all its investigations would mean that the inquiry would never finish its work given the amount of institutions it had to scrutinise.
“I want to focus on prevention without neglecting the past,” Jay said in a statement outlining her future plans. “Lessons have to be learnt from institutional failures and any cover-ups that have come to light.”
The new timetable emerged as the home secretary, Amber Rudd, defended her oversight of the controversial and ambitious investigation during emergency questions in the Commons.
In the Commons, Rudd said her department had only been informed there had been questions over the conduct of the inquiry’s previous chair, Dame Lowell Goddard, on 29 July. Last week the Times reported that Goddard had in private linked Britain’s child abuse problem to its population of Asian men – a claim denied by the New Zealand judge.
Under questioning from Stuart C McDonald, a Scottish National party MP, Rudd said she heard allegations about Goddard’s conduct in July. But these allegations were denied, Rudd said, adding that it would have been wrong for her to speculate about them in evidence to the committee.
Rudd told MPs: “On 29 July the secretary to the inquiry met my permanent secretary and reported concerns about the professionalism and competence of the chair. My permanent secretary encouraged the inquiry to raise those matters with the chair. He reported this meeting to me the same day.
“My permanent secretary also met members of the inquiry panel on the 4 August. Later that day Dame Lowell tendered her resignation to me, which I accepted. Less than a week elapsed between concerns being raised with the Home Office and Dame Lowell’s resignation.”
Jay’s statement was intended to reassure participants that progress would be made despite the Goddard controversy. In her statement, she said: “I believe that concerns that our terms of reference cannot be delivered are founded on an assumption that we must seek to replicate a traditional public inquiry in respect of each of the thousands of institutions that fall within our remit. We will do so for some, but we would never finish if we did it for all.
“Our approach is intended to fulfil the commitment I made on my appointment – to ensure that the inquiry is driven forward with pace, confidence and clarity. By doing so, the panel and I believe that we can make substantial progress towards completing the inquiry by the end of 2020.”
Jay said the inquiry would adopt a “thematic approach” to ensure it focused on the “fundamental” problems common to all institutions.
Both Jay and Mark Sedwill, the permanent secretary to the Home Office, are due to appear before the home affairs select committee on Tuesday to answer questions about progress of the inquiry.
In a letter to Rudd, the solicitor Imran Khan, who represents more than 40 participants in the inquiry, called for Jay, the fourth chair, to be removed because of her lack of legal expertise and for the whole inquiry to be suspended.
It accused Jay, who published a devastating report on child abuse in Rotherham, of having “no record in cross-examination or questioning of witnesses in a forum such as this; and has no experience of legal decision-making.
“Our clients are of the view that this lack of expertise means that she cannot fulfil the inquiry’s terms of reference,” he said. The letter continued: “There is a perception of bias. Prof Jay was a social worker and worked for a body which will be the subject of criticism in this inquiry.”
Andrew Lavery, of the victims’ group White Flowers Alba, who is represented by Khan, said: “We need a judges and QCs, not a social worker. We need due process. What they have turned this into is a fantasist’s forum.
“They are trying to hold this inquiry behind closed doors. We are no further forward in getting to the truth.”
Defending her experience and abilities, Jay said on Monday: “I stand by my record. I don’t refer only to my recent work in Rotherham but for decades of my professional career. For example, I was the chief inspector of social work in Scotland.
“I published reports on every local authority’s social services. I undertook specific investigations. If anyone takes the trouble to read those reports they will see I am no soft touch on social workers or any other profession.”
