MPs will vote on a Conservative-tabled amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, proposing the inclusion of a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
The decision was announced by Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle following an exchange on the issue between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday.
Prime Minister’s Questions saw Starmer urge Badenoch to “withdraw her wrecking amendment” to the government’s bill.
Starmer said that a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, pointing out that recommendations from the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had not yet been implemented.
Having earlier described plans to table the amendment as “completely short-sighted,” Starmer told Parliament, “What I find shocking is that anyone in this House would vote down the Children’s Wellbeing Bill this afternoon, vital protections for the most vulnerable in our society.”
The government’s bill aims to enhance child protection and elevate educational standards across England.
It will introduce a register for children not in school, which Labour had pledged in its manifesto, and give local authorities the power to enter family homes and require school attendance for any child if the environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe.
Ongoing Debate
The Conservatives’ call for a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs” comes amid the ongoing debate, involving UK MPs and tech billionaire Elon Musk.Musk has criticised Starmer, claiming he failed to prosecute “rape gangs” during his tenure as director of public prosecutions and suggested that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after denying requests for a public inquiry in Oldham.
The government has rejected the criticism, suggesting that Musk crossed a line with his criticism and was spreading misinformation.
Labour has committed to working on implementing the IICSA recommendations instead of launching new inquiries.
In the Commons exchange, Starmer said that the victims and survivors of the grooming scandal “want action now, not the delay of a further inquiry.”
He noted that there have been a number of inquiries, both national and local, including one covering Oldham, and reasonable people can agree or disagree on whether a further inquiry is necessary”.
New Investigation
The vote on Wednesday follows comments by the IICSA chair Alexis Jay, who called for urgent action rather than further inquiries.She stressed the need for local implementation of the IICSA’s recommendations, following an investigation of historic child sexual abuse cases in Rochdale, Rotherham, and other parts of the UK.
Despite a comprehensive list of recommendations, including the introduction of mandatory reporting of abuse and establishing a national redress scheme for survivors, most remain unimplemented.
Labour said it will adopt measures to criminalise failure to report or to cover up child sexual as part of the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, expected to be introduced this spring.
The government also plans to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences and introduce a clear new policing framework.
England’s Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has welcomed the government’s commitments but added she will support any further investigation considered necessary to uncover the scale and scope of failings, where any new evidence emerges.”
