Louise Haigh MP for Sheffield Heeley has welcomed the Government’s announcement of a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

Over the weekend the Prime Minister confirmed that the Government will commission a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, following a rapid audit led by Baroness Casey.

It was also confirmed that over 800 historic cases of child sexual abuse will now be investigated by the National Crime Agency, after police forces were ordered to review and reopen previous files. The Government has also said it will act on recommendations from the Jay Inquiry, first published in 2014 in the wake of the Rotherham scandal, which successive Conservative governments failed to implement.

Louise Haigh MP has long campaigned for justice for victims of child sexual exploitation. She worked with survivors of the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal and in 2019 proposed a change to the law, which would give Child sexual exploitation victims the right to have their criminal records automatically reviewed, and crimes associated with their grooming removed.

The Home Secretary is expected to publish the full findings of Baroness Casey’s audit and the Government’s formal response later today.

Louise Haigh MP for Sheffield Heeley said:

“It is very welcome news that the PM has commissioned a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

“We know children are being subjected to the most appalling violence and sexual abuse in communities across the country.

“It is high time we took measures needed to crack down on this heinous crime.”