UK’s grooming gangs inquiry won’t bring justice
by Joan Smith, UnHerd:
There are clearly unanswered questions about the targeting of teenage girls by gangs of predatory men in British towns and cities. One of the most pressing is about institutional failure: the fact that so many people — social workers, police officers and councillors — failed to act on complaints from children and their families. Why they didn’t intervene, and whether they are still responsible for the safety of vulnerable young people, is something that urgently needs to be established.
Will the Government’s announcement yesterday of national funding for five local inquiries do the job? Like many initiatives from Labour ministers, it feels like a desperate attempt to get out of a fix, satisfying no one. They are leaving it up to individual local authorities to set up inquiries, which means councillors effectively have to commission investigations into their current or former employees — and even their own colleagues.
There may be places where local politicians would rather not have an inquiry, for fear of what it might uncover or because they want to avoid further reputational damage. There is a whole series of towns — including Rotherham, Oldham, and Rochdale — whose names have become synonymous with “grooming” and child sexual exploitation. There is a risk that girls who were repeatedly raped elsewhere, who want an inquiry into who knew what and failed to act, will be denied justice because the Government is leaving the decision up to council bosses.
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