Grooming gangs inquiry to begin next week, Scottish Government announces

An independent inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland will begin next week, the Scottish Government has announced.

Education Secretary Mairi McAllan said the investigation will examine the scale, extent and prevalence of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland and “ensure it cannot happen again”.

Professor Alexis Jay will chair the statutory inquiry which will begin on Wednesday November 11.

Prof Jay will investigate failures by the state and other bodies, including any deliberate concealment or failure to disclose evidence.

In a statement to Parliament, Ms McAllan said the review will issue recommendations to strengthen child protections but added that it would not determine criminality.

The inquiry will look at child abuse between 1996 and November 11 this year.

It will also explore the “characteristics of perpetrators so risk factors can be better understood and stronger protections developed”, the Scottish Government said.

The Education Secretary told Holyrood: “Sexual abuse and exploitation are among the most serious harms that can be inflicted on a child.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that children are protected, perpetrators are pursued and survivors are listened to, supported and believed.

“This inquiry will undertake a thorough examination of Scotland’s response to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation.

“Its purpose is not only to understand what has happened, but to ensure it cannot happen again. To ensure accountability is strengthened, and that we do everything possible to better protect children and young people in the future.

“However, we are not waiting for the inquiry to conclude before acting – due to the pressing nature of the issue, work is already under way to strengthen Scotland’s collective response to child sexual abuse and exploitation, including by accepting the recommendations from our national review and providing additional funding for Police Scotland’s Operation Decerno.

“I want survivors to know that your voice will be heard. This inquiry will investigate what you went through, without fear or favour, and action will be taken as a result.

“And to those who would seek to perpetrate harm to our children in Scotland, I say directly that there will be nowhere to hide from justice.”

Prof Jay said: “I welcome today’s announcement of the inquiry’s terms of reference.

“This marks the beginning of our work, and I am clear that the focus of the inquiry will be on making practical recommendations that improve policy, practice and, where necessary, legislation to better protect children in Scotland.”

Prof Jay will report on specific aspects of the findings as they emerge, the Government said.

Reform MSP Senga Beresford said it was “shocking that it has taken 14 years to get us here”.

She said: “There can be no greater responsibility than protecting our children.

“Yet children have been abused, ignored and failed by the very state that should have protected them.

“They deserve protection before abuse and justice afterwards – not promises 14 years later, and this failure is not history.

“In Dumfries, my home town, schoolchildren are being handed rape alarms because they are frightened to walk to school.”

Tory MSP Meghan Gallacher said: “Why is this taking so long? It is not just me who is baffled by the lack of urgency – survivors of grooming gangs have also criticised the Scottish Government for taking too long.

“Some have waited decades for justice. We knew, and I think we all knew, that there was a significant issue the moment the inquiry south of the border began to uncover the true extent of grooming gangs.”

Ms Gallacher urged Ms McAllan to set out a timeline for the inquiry and said it must “finally deliver the answers and justice that the families and survivors deserve”.

Liberal Democrat MSP Duncan Dunlop said his party supported the inquiry but added: “I am concerned there is a real danger that the inquiry will produce another set of recommendations about partnership working, better information sharing, and training, only for the children to again find that little changes in practice.

“We already have the promise, the care review, and years of other reviews identifying failings in how we protect children.

“Yet the promise oversight board warned that commitments continue to not translate into improvements in children’s lives.”