Council demands statutory child sex abuse inquiry

Councillors in Oldham have voted unanimously to demand a statutory public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town, months after a government-led inquiry was turned down by ministers.

An extraordinary meeting of Oldham Council was called by Oldham's Conservative Group, who said a judge-led review would have more power than the currently planned local inquiry.

Safeguarding minster Jess Phillips previously argued that locally led inquiries, like a similar one held in Telford, were more effective at leading to change.

The motion calling for a statutory inquiry, which would compel witnesses to give evidence, was passed to applause from the public gallery, with some exclaiming: "Finally."

The BBC has asked the Home Office for a response.

Conservative Councillor Lewis Quigg, who proposed the motion, said a judge-led statutory inquiry was required to "right an incredible wrong".

"It's about time that the lid is lifted on this disaster, this national scandal of children who have been abused in some of the most evil acts."

Leader of the local Conservative group, Councillor David Arnott, said the issue had "hung over this borough for far too long" and added that the council had "failed many times to stop horrific abuses continuing for years".

The vote came after a lengthy and jumbled debate with multiple amendments to the motion, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

These included changes in language to avoid retraumatising survivors, a commitment to putting victims' voices at the centre of any new inquiry and a call for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to lend its voice to the call for statutory powers.

Councillors also discussed the singling out of men with Pakistani heritage within the original motion, with Liberal Democrat Councillor Helen Bishop arguing that it was "too narrow a focus" which could put people at risk of "not recognising predators within other communities".

In Telford, the inquiry found up to 1,000 girls faced abuse over 40 years, with some cases overlooked due to "nervousness about race" as most suspects were men of south Asian heritage.

A major report published in 2022, which examined the way child sexual exploitation was tackled in Oldham between 2011 and 2014, found children in the town had been failed by Greater Manchester Police and Oldham Council.

But investigators found no evidence of a cover up of grooming gangs.

Oldham Group Councillor Abdul Wahid said justice "must prevail", adding that "even one predator in our community is one too many".

"That's why we will do what we must here and within our communities to root out these criminals, who have tarnished the good name of British Pakistani Muslims across the country," he said.

"But let me be absolutely clear: this is not just about one community.

"It has been carried out by organised criminals of different backgrounds and covered up by communities and institutions of all ethnicities.

"The victims were failed by police who ignored them, social services who dismissed them and politicians who looked away."

The town's council is setting up its own investigation into historical child sex abuse cases after Labour ministers said they would not set up a public inquiry, adding that implementing recommendations from a 2022 report conducted by Prof Alexis Jay into child sexual abuse was its priority.

It led to billionaire Elon Musk criticising the UK government over its response to grooming gangs on his social media platform X.

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