Scottish Conservative MPs are calling on the Home Secretary to extend the UK statutory inquiry into grooming gangs to Scotland, arguing that victims north of the border should not be excluded from its investigations.
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Harriet Cross has written to the Home Secretary with the backing of all Scottish Conservative MPs after the inquiry announced investigations in a number of areas in England and Wales, while its formal remit currently covers England and Wales.
The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs was established following Baroness Louise Casey’s National Audit on group based child sexual exploitation and abuse and has statutory powers to compel evidence and testimony.
Cross argues that extending its work to Scotland would provide a fuller picture of group based child sexual abuse across the UK and points to reported Scottish cases as part of the case for inclusion.
Her intervention comes despite Scotland already having its own independent statutory inquiry into group based child sexual abuse and exploitation, which was announced by the Scottish Government in February.
Cross and her Conservative colleagues argue that the Scottish process is not progressing quickly enough and are calling for victims in Scotland to be included within the UK inquiry as well.
The Scottish Government has previously confirmed that its inquiry will run alongside other work examining group based child sexual abuse and exploitation, including an independent national review and work by Police Scotland to examine previous cases and gather evidence about the scale and nature of offending.
Cross said:
“The horrific sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is a stain on our country, and every victim deserves answers.
“While the statutory inquiry investigates cases in England and Wales, Scottish victims are still being left out.
“The SNP government is already lagging behind.
“They had to be forced by the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood to even hold an inquiry and they’ve still not set out a scope or terms of reference.
“That’s why every Scottish Conservative MP has joined me in demanding the Home Secretary extend the UK inquiry to Scotland too.
“Scottish victims have waited long enough.
“They deserve the same answers and justice as victims elsewhere in the United Kingdom.”
The UK inquiry is chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield and was established under the Inquiries Act 2005 to examine institutional responses to grooming gangs and identify failures in the way children and young people were protected.
Its terms of reference specify England and Wales, meaning any inclusion of Scotland would require a change to the existing arrangements.
Scotland’s separate statutory inquiry was announced on 25 February, while Police Scotland and other bodies have also been gathering evidence and reviewing the response to group based child sexual abuse and exploitation.
The latest intervention from Cross therefore centres not on whether Scotland should examine the issue, but whether Scottish victims and cases should also form part of the wider UK statutory inquiry alongside the work already taking place north of the border.
