The first local investigation areas for the grooming gang inquiry have been revealed.
In a statement published yesterday, the Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs confirmed that Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, and London will be the primary locations for Local Area Investigations.
The investigation process will involve an examination of ‘what happened in each area, how children were targeted and exploited, how institutions responded, and what needs to change’.
Additional investigation areas are to be confirmed later in the year, the statement says.
Furthermore, the Inquiry has announced that the first national public accountability hearings are to commence before the end of the year.
Hearings will look at the way institutions and services responded to grooming gangs, as well as examining past reviews and why the recommendations made (with over 800 having currently been identified) ‘were not consistently implemented’.
The Inquiry has also published its Victims and Survivors Charter, which outlines how it plans to ‘support, listen to and involve victims and survivors throughout its work’.
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