Casey wants ‘national reset’ on grooming gangs
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Politics latest: Keir Starmer admits to his ‘biggest mistake’ as prime minister
Starmer admits his biggest mistake since entering Downing Street. Admits that his government has not communicated with the public as well as it should have. Says the story of his first year is that the “had to clear up the mess” that he says the Tories left them. Says he is proud that a year ago he said we’d do two million extra appointments in the NHS in the first year of a Labour government.
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed to Sky News what he views as his biggest mistake since entering Downing Street just under a year ago.
Speaking to our political editor Beth Rigby at the G7 summit in Canada, the prime minister admitted that his government has not communicated with the public as well as it should have.
He said: “I think that we haven’t always told our story as well as we should, explained our decisions in the way that might, in retrospect, have been better. But that’s the nature of politics.”
The PM went on to say that the story of his first year is that the “had to clear up the mess” that he says the Tories left them.
He continued: “But as we now turn into the second year with the spending review, now’s the time we can show that having cleared up that mess, taken those tough but necessary decisions, now you can see in the spending review, with the investment we’re making in our public services, in our infrastructure, in our jobs, apprenticeships, you name it – you can see the difference that the Labour government makes.”
Asked what he is proudest of, he said: “I’m really proud that a year ago, probably, I was interviewed by you, and I said we’d do two million extra appointments in the NHS in the first year of a Labour government.
“We’ve now done three million, and waiting lists are coming down. There’s a whole list of other things that I could probably go on about for a very, very long time.”
Fast-track grooming gang inquiry, Lancashire councillor says
Fast-track grooming gang inquiry, councillor says. Sir Keir Starmer has announced there will be a full statutory inquiry. Councillor Azhar Ali said “it should have happened years ago”
Councillor Azhar Ali said a national inquiry into grooming gangs “should have happened years ago”
The full national inquiry into grooming gangs should be fast-tracked, a councillor has said.
Sir Keir Starmer has announced there would be a full, national statutory inquiry after earlier facing criticism for not being willing to set one up.
Councillor Azhar Ali, the Independent opposition leader at Lancashire County Council, said “it should have happened years ago”.
“It’s really important that other perpetrators are brought through the justice system rapidly and the National Crime Agency is given all the tools and resources to deal with it,” he said.
Louise Casey to appear before MPs after major review of child grooming failures
Baroness Louise Casey will appear before the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning. The Government set out plans to launch a new nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs following her rapid review of the scandal. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed officials have dodged the issue of ethnicity among the groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist. Available data showed suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men. Ms Cooper said the Government would take action “immediately’ on all of Lady Casey’s recommendations. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to launching a national inquiry into the abuse. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the PM of “cowardice” over the issue. Former Tory government adviser Dominic Cummings claimed in an interview with Sky News that officials from the Department for Education were supportive of Rotherham Council’s suggestion of going to court in 2011 to prevent the Times’ initial reporting of the incident.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed officials have dodged the issue of ethnicity among the groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, even though available data showed suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday as the review was published, the Home Secretary said “much more robust national data is needed” on the ethnicity of offenders, adding that the authorities “cannot and must not shy away from these findings”.
Doing so would allow “the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities”, she added.
Lady Casey’s report found that: “The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more. Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years.”
It added: “We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.”
Multiple convictions of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds should have “warranted closer examination”, it said, adding: “Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it.”
Former Tory government adviser Dominic Cummings meanwhile claimed in an interview with Sky News that officials from the Department for Education were supportive of Rotherham Council’s suggestion of going to court in 2011 to prevent the Times’ initial reporting of the scandal in Rotherham.
Lord Michael Gove, then the education secretary, rejected the request for a judicial review on Mr Cummings’ advice, the broadcaster reported.
Ms Cooper said the Government would take action “immediately” on all of Lady Casey’s recommendations, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to launching a national inquiry into the abuse.
Screen grab of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper making a statement in the House of Commons, London, on Baroness Casey’s findings on grooming gangs (House of Commons/UK Parliament)
The recommendations included:
– Making it mandatory to collect ethnicity and nationality data of all suspects in child sexual abuse cases
– A new national inquiry into child sexual abuse with statutory legal powers, which will co-ordinate the efforts of local investigations led by councils and set out “strict timescales” for them to follow.
– A nationwide National Crime Agency operation, targeting people who have sexually exploited children, and following up on an estimated more than 1,000 cold cases where no one was convicted.
– A change in the law so that all adult sex with under-16s is considered rape.
– A review of criminal records held by victims of child sexual exploitation.
In the Commons, Ms Cooper “unequivocally” apologised for the failings which had led to grooming and child sexual abuse.
The Home Secretary also pledged to exclude convicted sex offenders from the asylum system, while the report warned “a significant proportion” of live investigations into grooming gangs “appear to involve suspects who are non-UK nationals and/or who are claiming asylum in the UK”.
In her report, Lady Casey said it is time to draw a line in the sand and take action over the issue, which she called “one of the most heinous crimes in our society”.
She also urged opposition politicians not to use the scandal as a “political football”, adding there was a chance to “create a national reset”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the PM of “cowardice” over the issue, writing in The Sun: “This has been an extraordinary failure of leadership from the PM. He was more worried about the views of his leftie lawyer mates than the brave survivors.
“For decades they have called for their abusers, and those who covered it up, to face justice.
“No one can be beyond scrutiny. And it must be swift. The PM’s cowardice made them wait longer than necessary. They must not wait another decade for justice.”
WATCH: Baroness Casey reveals reason behind calls for national inquiry
Baroness Casey has outlined her rationale for demanding a national inquiry into grooming gangs. She highlighted failures in addressing both historical and current cases. The peer expressed concern that victims may not have received justice.
The peer, who conducted an inspection into Rotherham in 2015, expressed concern that victims may not have received justice.
“There may be victims out there that haven’t had justice that I think we should double back and do something about,” she stated.
Ethnicity of grooming gangs ‘shied away from’, Casey report says
Ethnicity of grooming gangs ‘shied away from’, Casey report says. Report said ethnicity data is not recorded for two-thirds of grooming gang perpetrators. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised to victims as she presented the findings to MPs and announced a new national inquiry into grooming gangs. The audit criticised the “failure” of the authorities to “understand” the nature and scale of the problem to date. It concluded that ignorance and a fear of being seen as racist meant organisations tasked with protecting children turned a blind eye to abuse. The report is focused on “group-based child exploitation” by grooming gangs, which is defined as involving “multiple perpetrators coercing, manipulating and deceiving children into sex, often with physical disabilities or learning difficulties” It concludes that many cases have been dropped or downgraded because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have consented to sex with the perpetrator. The abuse is typically “a man targeting a vulnerable adolescent – often those in learning or learning care or those with physical or learning disabilities”
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Watch: Cooper says “words not enough” for victims of grooming gangs
The ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs has been “shied away from” by authorities, according to a new report by Baroness Louise Casey. The finding comes after the peer was tasked with producing an audit on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales. The report said ethnicity data is not recorded for two-thirds of grooming gang perpetrators, meaning it is not robust enough to support conclusions about offenders at a national level. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised to victims as she presented the findings to MPs and announced a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.
In the report, Baroness Casey said: “We as a society owe these women a debt. “They should never have been allowed to have suffered the appalling abuse and violence they went through as children,” she added. On the question of ethnicity, the report said: “We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data”. However, it added that at a local level for three police forces – Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – there was enough evidence to show a “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation”. Cooper said: “Ignoring the issues, not examining and exposing them to the light, allows the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities.” In a later interview, Lady Casey said the data should be investigated as it was “only helping the bad people” not to give a full picture of the situation, adding: “You’re doing a disservice to two sets of population, the Pakistani and Asian heritage community, and victims.” The report concluded that ignorance and a fear of being seen as racist meant organisations tasked with protecting children turned a blind eye to abuse. “We found many examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems,” the report said. The audit criticised the “failure” of the authorities to “understand” the nature and scale of the problem to date. “If we’d got this right years ago – seeing these girls as children raped rather than ‘wayward teenagers’ or collaborators in their abuse, collecting ethnicity data, and acknowledging as a system that we did not do a good enough job – then I doubt we’d be in this place now,” the report stated. Speaking on BBC Newsnight later on Monday, Baroness Casey said: “I’m raging, actually, on behalf of the victims.”
Watch: Grooming gang victim Fiona Goddard reacts to report findings
Cooper told the Commons the government would follow all 12 of the report’s recommendations, including suggestions to: Ensure adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 “face the most serious charge of rape” instead of lesser charges
Launch a new national criminal operation overseen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to tackle grooming gangs and hold a national inquiry that co-ordinates targeted local investigations into abuse
Review the criminal convictions of victims of child sexual exploitation and quashing any convictions where the government finds victims were criminalised instead of protected
Make the collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in child sexual abuse and criminal exploitation cases mandatory
Commission research into the drivers for group-based child sexual exploitation, including the role of social media, cultural factors and group dynamics
Bring in more rigorous standards for the licensing and regulation of taxi drivers following cases of them being used to traffic victims Cooper said: “To the victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and grooming gangs, on behalf of this and past governments, and the many public authorities who let you down, I want to reiterate an unequivocal apology for the unimaginable pain and suffering that you have suffered, and the failure of our country’s institutions through decades to prevent that harm and keep you safe.” She added: “Baroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children. She concludes too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.” The report is focused on “group-based child exploitation” by grooming gangs, a crime which is defined as involving “multiple perpetrators coercing, manipulating and deceiving children into sex, to create an illusion of consent”.
Baroness Louise Casey led the audit, which has prompted a national inquiry into grooming gangs
The “grooming gangs model” of abuse is outlined in Casey’s audit, which typically involves “a man targeting a vulnerable adolescent child – often those in care, or children with learning or physical disabilities” and “grooming them into thinking they are their ‘boyfriend’. “Subsequently, they pass them to other men for sex, using drugs and alcohol to make children compliant, often turning to violence and coercion to control them,” the report said. Taxis were often used by grooming gangs to transport vulnerable children around, it said. “Girls went missing frequently… for days at a time”, Casey noted, adding: “Several victims had children by the perpetrators of their abuse.” The audit is “the latest in a long line” of initiatives and measures looking into child sexual exploitation, Casey’s report said. While many children did not report their abuse at the time, the report stated, many children who did report have been “ignored, treated like criminals and often arrested themselves.”
Fiona Goddard, a survivor of a grooming gang that operated in the Bradford area, told BBC News the “vast majority” of those who abused her “were Pakistani men”. She said: “I do not believe it was just a misunderstanding and not understanding the crime or the victims. “I think that the crime was allowed to happen, one, because of the race of the perpetrators, and two, because of who the victims were.”