With additions .....
On 2 September 2025, Jess Phillips MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office) updated the House of Commons on the progress being made to deliver Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, which was published before the summer recess.
Statement - House of Commons - 2 September 2025
Baroness Casey - Report of the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (197 pages).
Recommendation 2 of Casey's report stated
- 'A national police operation and national inquiry, co-ordinating a series of targeted investigations should be launched into child sexual exploitation in England and Wales.'
In June, the government accepted the need for an inquiry. The Commons statement indicates that the inquiry will
- examine how effectively local and national safeguarding systems protected children from group-based sexual exploitation and abuse, and hold institutions accountable for past failures
- consider intersections with ethnicity, race and culture, and assess the safeguarding duties of public services, identifying both failures and examples of good practice
A 'recruitment process' has been underway to appoint a Chair for the inquiry and the government is 'now in the final stages of the appointment process.
A 'dedicated panel of victims and survivors has been established to contribute to the chair selection process.'
Once appointed, the Chair will play a central role in shaping the terms of reference.
The inquiry is expected to run for two to three years. That is likely to take any final report up to, maybe beyond, the next general election.
The Shadow Home Secretary (Chris Philp MP) replied to the statement. His comments are at time 1:47 at Statement - House of Commons - 2 September 2025.
Previous posts touching on this are:
New Year 2025 - 10 January 2025
15 June 2025 - Starmer decides to set up inquiry
On Inquiries generally, please see Notes for Students - Inquiries
Addition 14 October 2025
The Guardian - National grooming gangs inquiry stalls over remit wrangles and lack of chair. This article states - 'Senior legal figures have turned down informal approaches about chairing the new inquiry – a sign that the government may be finding it hard to find a suitable candidate to cover a politically sensitive subject.'
Addition 21 October 2025
The Guardian - Starmer’s grooming gang inquiry left in turmoil after two survivors quit panel
Addition 22 October 2025
BBC News - Focus of grooming inquiry 'will not change', home secretary insists
Hansard - House of Commons debate 21 October 2025
The Guardian - UK grooming gangs inquiry suffers fresh setback as another potential chair pulls out
Addition 23 October 2025
Four members of the victims' panel has resigned. Two possible chairs for the Inquiry also withdrew.
BBC News - Four survivors call for minister to quit as row deepens over grooming inquiry
The Guardian 22 October - Last candidate to chair UK grooming gangs inquiry withdraws over ‘lack of trust’
Prime Minister's Questions on 22 October - The PM was asked why did the inquiry 'not deserve a judge.' His reply was - ' ..... whether the inquiry should be judge-led was looked at by Louise Casey. She decided against that for a reason, and her reasons were twofold—I will spell them out. The first was the speed with which we could do this ..... The second ..... I was absolutely determined that criminal investigations would go on at the same time as the inquiry. One of the problems that judge-led inquiries run into ..... is that they are often held back until the end of the criminal investigations, and I was determined that we would be able to run the two together. It is because of that that we have been able to reopen 1,200 historical cases at the same time.'
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