MP urges grooming gangs inquiry chair 'to come meet victims in Bradford'
Shipley MP Anna Dixon has called on the newly appointed chair of the grooming gangs inquiry to come to Bradford and “listen to the victims and survivors”.
Earlier this week, it was announced that former children’s commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield will lead the three-year inquiry with a budget of £65m.
This will comprise of a series of targeted local investigations into the sexual exploitation of girls by grooming gangs, with pressure from local politicians and survivors for the Bradford district to be included.
Ms Dixon, whose Shipley constituency is part of the Bradford boundaries, said: “I recently met victims and survivors in West Yorkshire, including representatives of the Bradford survivor leadership group.
“They were very clear that they wanted to ensure the implementation of the findings of past inquiries, and I am glad that this Government has wasted no time in implementing the findings of the Jay review.
“Secondly, victims and survivors want us to learn from good practice. I recommend that the incoming chair, Baroness Longfield, look at some of what the West Yorkshire police are doing.
“The third thing they asked for was ongoing engagement, so I would like to invite Baroness Longfield to come and listen to the victims and survivors in Bradford and West Yorkshire.”
Baroness Longfield, who is based in Ilkley and has spent much of her career investigating childhood inequalities, will be aware of the high number of cases in Bradford and Keighley.
She was previously brought in to help the children’s services at the local authority over a different matter.
She said: “The inquiry owes it to the victims, survivors and the wider public to identify the truth, address past failings and ensure that children and young people today are protected in a way that others were not.
“The inquiry will follow the evidence and will not shy away from difficult or uncomfortable truths wherever we find them.”
Baroness Longfield and the inquiry panel wrote an open letter to survivors as their role was confirmed, saying: “We know that trust must be earned.”
But her appointment has caused backlash from survivors who quit the panel, with one former member Fiona Goddard, from Bradford, rejecting it as an independent inquiry when Baroness Longfield was a Labour peer and said remaining panel members have not been consulted.