Too many caveats surrounding local investigations could jeopardise the outcomes of the government’s statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, according to Alastair Gillespie, Head of Abuse and Social Care at Forbes Solicitors.

Examining failures

Work has started on the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs (the Inquiry), with terms of reference published by the Chair, Baroness Anne Longfield. The Inquiry responds to Recommendation 2 of Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which called for a time limited, targeted and proportionate inquiry into cases of failures or obstruction by statutory services in relevant local areas.

The expectation is for the Inquiry to examine and pinpoint failures during the historic handling of grooming gang allegations, so that lessons are learned and real and lasting change can be achieved in safeguarding systems at both a national and local level.

Victims and survivors will be the central focus of the Inquiry, with outputs aiming to bring more perpetrators to justice, holding statutory services to account and acting upon misconduct in public office. This will involve a series of local investigations, and it’s important that practices and processes are clearly defined and carried out consistently to avoid compromising the gathering of evidence.

Too many caveats, too much discretion

Local investigations may take several forms, including hearings, written research and collation of evidence, data collection and analysis. This process will, in part, help the Inquiry to determine whether ethnicity, religion and culture had any bearing on enabling group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Findings from the local investigations are also intended to identify failures in organisations, systems and procedures, and failures by individual leaders, in protecting children from grooming gangs within local areas.

Although the local investigations are fundamental to fulfilling the overall purpose of the Inquiry, there appears to be too many caveats and too much discretion about how each local investigation will be carried out. For example, the Inquiry’s terms of reference outline a series of factors (section 4.6.2) that the Chair and Panel can decide on for each local area. This could mean there are variations in examining any ‘missed opportunities for intervention’ and ‘the role that different risk factors and vulnerabilities played in abuse’, as well as other factors, such as how allegations were handled and victims responded to.

Variations could also arise in terms of which services are examined. The Chair and Panel can determine whether additional services (section 4.6.3), including education settings, youth and community services, and multi-agency partnerships – amongst others – should be part of a local investigation.

Alternative forms of review across local areas presents a risk of inconsistencies and missed opportunities. Discretionary decisions based on a specific area and evidence already presented, could mean that any hidden failures remain unidentified. The process can’t simply focus on investigating what is known or what is believed to be known. It must exert levels of due diligence that delve deeper.

Grooming gangs are extremely coercive and manipulative, and this abhorrent behaviour makes it difficult to gather and build evidence in cases of group-based child sexual exploitation. Investigating these types of historic cases requires a thorough, analytical approach committed to finding missing details and determining why they are absent.

It also seems highly likely that the Inquiry will face a series of logistical and political pressures over the next three years. This could be a constant challenge for the Chair and Panel, and standardising local investigations will help ensure that processes stand-up more effectively to scrutiny, that could otherwise prove detracting.

A national focus

Alongside clarity and consistency, it’s also important that local investigations are carried out nationally across England and Wales. Focus of the grooming gang National Audit and the Inquiry has been very much on places around the M62 corridor. Recent grooming gang allegations in the West Midlands show that Baroness Casey’s recommendations and the Inquiry must broaden the scope beyond the North of England.

A national focus, supported by addressing caveats early, will help ensure the Inquiry is coherent and meticulous. It may mean consideration of some factors that end up proving inconsequential during local investigations but will ensure no stone is left unturned in the quest to right the wrongs of the past.

Alastair Gillespie appeared as an expert witness at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and acted for a global insurer during IICSA. He has more than 30 years of experience handling complex claims of abuse and neglect and, as part of the team at Forbes Solicitors, continues to act for local authorities in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) claims directly linked to grooming gangs.