Dame Louise Casey has called for a newly-announced inquiry into grooming gangs to be used as a "moment to have a national reset" on the issue. The crossbench peer's report into the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales paved the way for a new national inquiry announced at the weekend by Sir Keir Starmer. Baroness Casey urged those called to give evidence to the inquiry to be open to scrutiny and change. She told the Commons home affairs committee she wanted the government to "crack on" with the inquiry, suggesting it could be completed within three years, with regular updates before the final report. She was also quizzed by MPs about her report's finding that the ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs had been "shied away from" by the authorities. The peer urged people to "keep calm" on the subject of ethnicity. Pointing out that her report had said data on the ethnicity of perpetrators was "incomplete and unreliable", she said: "If you look at the data on child sexual exploitation, suspects and offenders, it's disproportionately Asian heritage. "If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate, and it is white men. "So again, just [a] note to everybody really, outside here rather than in here, let's just keep calm here about how you interrogate data and what you draw from it." Baroness Casey said she did not think it was "unreasonable" to hold the government to account in six months' time on whether her 12 recommendations have been implemented. "I hope this is a line in the sand, and I think the 12 things that we're asking for are not impossible. "They're not pipe dreams, they're achievable." She also told the committee she would like to see "quite a significant uplift in the prosecutions, the action, the criminal investigations on child sexual exploitation, both historic and current". Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the government will follow all 12 of the report's recommendations, including suggestions to: Baroness Casey told BBC Newsnight she was "disappointed" by the politicisation of her report, adding that she felt opposition parties could have "come together" behind the government. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer of politicising the issue when he said in January that those calling for a national inquiry were "jumping on a bandwagon" and "amplifying" the demands of the far right. She said: "I do think that we should take the politics out of it. "But who was it that said when we raised this issue, that we were pandering to the far right? That's what brought the politics into it." Speaking at a news conference alongside survivors and family members, she added: "I'm not doing politics now, when I'm in the Houses of Parliament, when I'm in the Commons, I will do politics." Pressed over whether the Tories owed survivors an apology for not doing more to tackle grooming gangs when they were in power, Badenoch said: "We have done that… I have spoken to [survivors] about this. "I have apologised. But what I find extraordinary is that more people are interested in prosecuting a government that did some things, did not conclude, rather than looking at what needs to happen right now." Badenoch backed the three-year timescale proposed by Baroness Casey for the national inquiry into grooming gangs as "reasonable" - having previously called for it to be done within two years.
Casey wants 'national reset' on grooming gangs
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"Dame Louise Casey Calls for National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and Addressing Child Sexual Abuse"
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TruthLens AI Summary
Dame Louise Casey has emphasized the importance of the recently announced national inquiry into grooming gangs as a pivotal opportunity for a 'national reset' regarding group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales. Her report, which outlines the nature and scale of these offenses, has led to this inquiry being initiated by Sir Keir Starmer. During her testimony before the Commons home affairs committee, Casey urged participants in the inquiry to remain open to scrutiny and change, highlighting the need for a swift progression of the investigation. She expressed hope that the inquiry could be concluded within three years, suggesting regular updates to keep the public informed before the final report is published. Casey also addressed the sensitive issue of ethnicity related to grooming gangs, asserting that authorities have often shied away from this topic. She pointed out that while data indicates a disproportionate number of suspects of Asian heritage in grooming cases, it is crucial to approach this data with calmness and a nuanced understanding, as child abuse statistics reveal a different demographic trend, predominantly involving white men.
Furthermore, Casey indicated that she does not find it unreasonable to hold the government accountable for implementing her twelve recommendations within six months, believing these measures are achievable. She called for an increase in prosecutions and criminal investigations related to child sexual exploitation, both past and present. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has expressed the government's commitment to following all twelve recommendations. However, political tensions have arisen, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticizing Starmer for allegedly politicizing the inquiry. Badenoch has previously accused those advocating for the inquiry of aligning with far-right sentiments. Despite these political divisions, she acknowledged the reasonableness of the proposed three-year timeline for the inquiry, emphasizing the need to focus on actionable solutions rather than political blame games.
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