After the government announced five pilots for locally-led inquiries into child grooming gangs, councils should ensure they have resources at their disposal should investigations be rolled out, says Stephanie McGarry, partner at Browne Jacobson.

While influential figures like Elon Musk may not have got their wish for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation after weeks of intense lobbying, the Government’s response feels sensible.

Prioritising a locally-led approach to conducting investigations reflects how councils will often have a far better and deeper understanding of the various issues and intricacies within their local areas than any national body.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged £1m to each of five pilot investigations – one in Oldham, with four other areas yet to be confirmed – as a ‘first step’.

Local authorities that aren’t part of this initial wave can get their house in order now ahead of any potential future mandate from Government to conduct their own inquiries into child sexual exploitation, or implement recommendations arising from the pilot investigations.

Preparing for locally-led investigations into children’s sexual exploitation

Councils should ensure they have plans to retain key information they might hold and consider how to seek engagement from other third parties, such as the police, victims and survivors, social workers, and teachers.

A good starting point is to review the ‘list of issues’ covered by the Telford and Wrekin Independent Inquiry, not least because the government has indicated the chair of that inquiry, Tom Crowther KC, will assist in the pilot’s methodology.

Local authorities should identify their historic and existing level of management and oversight over areas that may come under scrutiny, such as taxi licensing and the night-time economy.

Data sources could include children’s care records, investigations into child sexual exploitation complaints, safeguarding reviews, communication with local police forces and other agencies, service commissioning documents and a whole range of other information.

Much of this data may be stored as paper records in archives and therefore could require digitising, which brings up a range of legal and compliance considerations, including:

• Data protection and privacy: Ensure compliance with data protection laws, such as the UK General Data Protection Regulation, by securing personal data and obtaining necessary consents for its digital use and storage.
• Maintaining authenticity and integrity: When converting documents from paper to digital, measures should be implemented to prevent alteration or loss of information, ensuring digital copies are true and accurate representations of the original documents.
• Retention policies: Different types of documents may have specific retention periods mandated by law. Digital storage solutions must accommodate these requirements, ensuring documents are accessible and intact for the required duration.
• Access and disclosure: Digital documents must be stored in a manner that allows for appropriate access by authorised individuals while protecting against unauthorised access.
• Electronic signatures: If documents to be digitised include signatures, it’s important to ensure the digital version maintains the legal validity of those signatures.
• Copyright and licensing: Ensure compliance with copyright laws by obtaining necessary permissions or licenses to create and store digital copies.

By getting ahead with their data obligations now, local authorities can ensure they are able to react quickly to any national roll-out of locally-led investigations.

Why is the Government focusing on locally-led investigations?

Much of the national public discourse has side-lined the fact that an Independent National Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has already taken place, publishing its final report in 2022. The seven-year inquiry investigated organised child abuse in residential homes and schools, as well as abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic and Anglican churches.

However, as the Home Secretary has pointed out, many national inquiries result in little action, with a recent review by the Thirlwall Inquiry’s legal team finding only a small number of recommendations made over the past 30 years have been implemented.

On the other hand, the majority of 47 recommendations made by Telford and Wrekin Council’s inquiry into child sexual exploitation between 2018 and 2022 have already been implemented. This investigation examined practices dating back to 1989 and identified areas where services may have failed to protect children.

Tom Crowther KC, Chair of the Telford inquiry, will therefore work with the Government to develop a new framework for locally-led investigations.

An effective national mechanism may also be required to ensure local investigations result in tangible positive change. This is the intent of the State-related Deaths (National Oversight Mechanism) Bill 2024-25, which undergoes its second reading in Parliament on 25 April.

The Bill seeks to establish an independent body tasked with monitoring the implementation of recommendations from inquests, public inquiries and reviews. This would address a critical gap in the current system, which lacks a legal framework to ensure the lessons learned from tragic incidents lead to tangible improvements in public safety and governance.

Stephanie McGarry is a partner specialising in regulatory law with a particular focus on large and complex public inquiries at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson.