Alexis Jay: No need for new grooming gangs inquiry – ‘just get on’ with reforms

The head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has said “the time has passed” for another lengthy examination of grooming gangs and that the row is “distracting from the issues”.

Professor Alexis Jay said “we’ve had enough of inquiries, consultations and discussions” as she called for action.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is pushing for a national inquiry after tech billionaire Elon Musk used his X platform to launch a barrage of online attacks on the Government over the issue.

Prof Jay produced a report on grooming gangs in Rotherham in 2014 and then chaired the national inquiry into various forms of child sexual abuse which reported in 2022.

“We have learned a lot from those reviews that have already been undertaken,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Locally, people need to step up to the mark and do the things that have been recommended.

“I think that the time has passed for more inquiries. We’ve had enough of inquiries, consultations and discussions, and especially for those victims and survivors who’ve had the courage to come forward, and they clearly want action.

“We have set out what action is required and people should just get on with it. Locally and nationally.”

The slew of messages on X from Mr Musk on the issue attacking Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips came after the Government declined to commission an inquiry into sexual exploitation in Oldham, insisting it should be locally-led.

Prof Jay declined to answer when asked whether she felt US billionaire Mr Musk knew what was going on in Oldham, but added: “I have heard very little in the last few days about the appalling and lifelong effects that child sexual abuse can have on people.”

She said she is pleased that the subject matter and the recommendations made by her inquiry are getting attention “but this is definitely not the way I would have chosen for it to happen”.

She acknowledged that plans for new legislation announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday had happened quicker than they might otherwise have done.

“It (the row) may well have given it some kind of impetus to move forward,” she said.

Prof Jay’s inquiry noted that “many of the high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions have involved groups of men from minority ethnic communities” but a lack of data means it is “impossible to know whether any particular ethnic group is over-represented as perpetrators of child sexual exploitation by networks”.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed Pakistani men are “over-represented in those who are involved in the grooming gangs” and said he will not “tiptoe” around the issue.

He told Times Radio: “What I have said is that millions of people have come into our country in recent times, but some of them are coming from countries and cultures that have backwards attitudes to women.

“And that’s backed up by the evidence that we have seen from the Jay Report and the testimonies of the victims.

“Pakistani men are over-represented in those who are involved in the grooming gangs, and the evidence we have seen is that some of those have specifically preyed upon white, working-class girls because they viewed them as worthless.

“We can’t dismiss that and I’m not going to sanitise or tiptoe around this issue.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would be prepared to set up an unofficial inquiry into grooming gangs if the Government did not act within “a few weeks”.

“I will have no difficulty in raising the money to do this, whatsoever. We’ll appoint independent ex-judges and experts,” he told LBC.

“I won’t have the statutory powers but, I tell you what – I think this would garner such massive public support that anybody asked to appear that didn’t appear would look terrible.”

Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones was unable to provide a timeline for implementing the recommendations of the Jay inquiry.

On Monday, Ms Cooper announced that minsters would begin implementing Prof Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.

But Ms Davies-Jones would not commit to timings for other recommendations in the report.

She told Times Radio: “A lot of these recommendations can be implemented quickly. As you heard from the Home Secretary yesterday, we’ve already begun that work and some of those new offences that have been announced will be in our Crime and Policing Bill brought in later this year.”

Adding that the Government will provide “more information soon”, she said: “I want to do this as quickly as possible. It’s very complicated, this is not a quick fix overnight.”

She also ruled out creating a specific Cabinet minister responsible for children, as recommended by Prof Jay, saying the role is filled by the Education Secretary.

She told Times Radio: “We already have a Cabinet member responsible for children, Bridget Phillipson.”

She added that preventing child sexual exploitation is also the responsibility of a wider group of ministers: “This is something that is all of our responsibility across Government to deliver.”