Latest news with #LadyCasey
Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Grooming gang victims hope to finally get answers as report unearths failings
Yvette Cooper offered an 'unequivocal apology' to young girls who were preyed on by grooming gangs as she warned paedophiles have 'nowhere to hide' amid a fresh wave of investigations Victims of grooming gangs were repeatedly let down by the authorities in a catalogue of failure spanning decades, a damning review found. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to finally deliver justice for girls preyed upon by predators, warning vile perpetrators they have "nowhere to hide". Children as young as 10 were plied with drugs and alcohol, and brutally abused by gangs of men before being "disgracefully let down again and again" by authorities, MPs heard. Ms Cooper offered "an unequivocal apology for the unimaginable pain and suffering" inflicted on young girls, and "the failure of our country's institutions through decades." But whistle blower Jayne Senior demanded to know why it had taken so long for victims to get justice. Survivors of the Telford abuse scandal, exposed by the Mirror, said they hoped victims would finally get their answers. Crossbench peer Baroness Louise Casey laid bare the culture of denial in institutions that failed young girls in a report commissioned by Keir Starmer earlier this year. She pointed to a "collective failure" to address the 'over-representation' of suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men in local data - using figures collected in Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire. Lady Casey said there was evidence some authorities avoided the issue altogether for fear of appearing racist and raising community tensions. In her report, Lady Casey said that vulnerable children were often treated as "wayward teens" by public bodies. Young girls were even prosecuted for offences relating to child prostitution. Ms Cooper said the Government would accept the recommendations, including for a national inquiry which is expected to take around three years. More than 1,000 dropped child sex abuse cases are expected to be re-investigated by police, after too many cases where men escaped facing rape charges as blame was directed at their victims. The Home Secretary vowed to change the law to ensure adults who engage in penetrative sex with under 16s face a mandatory rape charge - and convictions of victims who should have been protected will be quashed. She told MPs: "The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes. Children as young as 10 plied with drugs and alcohol, brutally raped by gangs of men and disgracefully let down again and again by the authorities who were meant to protect them and keep them safe. "And these despicable crimes have caused the most unimaginable harm to victims, victims and survivors throughout their lives." She added: "We have lost more than a decade. That must end now." The Government will also order police forces to properly record the ethnicity of perpetrators and victims. Lady Casey said it was a "major failing" that this data had not been properly recorded, meaning there was no clear picture. She told reporters the data should be investigated as it was "only helping the bad people" not to bring a fuller picture to light, adding: "You're doing a disservice to two sets of population, the Pakistani and Asian heritage community, and victims." Asked if she was worried recording the data could lead to civil unrest, she responded: "If for a minute you had another report that ducked the issue, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think they're not going to use that as well?" "If good people don't grip difficult issues, in my experience bad people do." Jayne Senior MBE, the whistleblower who first raised the alarm about abuse in Rotherham, said: "Why are we where we are? Why has it taken so long? "I have spoken to a few victims this afternoon. A few that are in tears, a few that are very angry. Some are relieved that they won't be seen as lying now. "Others are saying it is opening things up again and we've been asking for this for years." The youth worker, who runs the Swinton Lock Activity Centre, near Mexborough, in South Yorkshire added: "I think the recommendations are good but this needs setting up now very quickly. "It needs to be a Government appointed inquiry but externally led. I also think there needs to be a massive cash injection into therapy and counselling. "And survivors of the most horrendous abuse need to stop having to beg for compensation. "People wait years jumping through hoops before they get any compensation." Holly Archer, a survivor and campaigner from Telford, said: "Baroness Casey's findings are not a surprise. But I'm glad to see there is finally some acknowledgment that there needs to be reform to cross border taxis, which is something I have worked on with Telford and Wrekin council. "We wrote to the Government more than five years ago asking them to consider the regulation of taxi licensing. My only disappointment is that the review has focussed on the north of England, and there would have been benefit in choosing to focus the audit on locations across the country. "I'm really hopeful that there will be changes now for all victims, past, present and future." Scarlett Jones, a second survivor from Telford, said: "I welcome Dame Casey's review and findings and I hope that this is the time that all politics are put to one side and everyone unites to give the victims and survivors the answers that they need. "We have been working with the Home Office to make the framework as survivor focused as it can be, as it has been in Telford." Scarlett, not her real name, is one of three survivors working with Telford Council to implement 47 recommendation from the local inquiry into child sexual abuse that was produced in 2022. Her report highlighted cases of grooming gangs targeting young girls in towns including Telford, which was exposed by the Sunday Mirror. It also pointed to groups preying on victims in Rochdale, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wrexham, Newcastle, London, Aylesbury, Oldham and Somerset. Just three days before Lady Casey's report was published, seven men were found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage girls in Rochdale over five A and Girl B were both groomed from the age of 13 and expected to have sex with the men "whenever and wherever" they wanted. One of the victims, now in her 30s, said she was also labelled a "prostitute" by social services when aged 10. The gang was convicted of 53 sexual offences between 2001 and 2006. The paedophiles were ringleader Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, Kasir Bashir, 50, Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, Nisar Hussain, 41, and Roheez Khan, 39.
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Grooming gangs inquiry: how will it help victims and affect the law?
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said she will commission a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs and enact a series of law changes. It comes after a 197-page report by Lady Casey examining what more could be done to bring perpetrators to justice. Here are the key points from the report. Casey said that local inquiries should be coordinated by an independent commission which has full statutory inquiry powers. It would be time limited and targeted. The report said that the inquiry would set strict timescales and terms of reference for the local investigations, and be able to compel witnesses where they refuse to cooperate. There should be a charter for victims about what they should reasonably expect from this process, Casey said. Cooper said the national inquiry will go ahead, with details of the chair and funding announced in due course. It will not be the kind of overarching inquiry like the one into child sexual abuse conducted by Prof Alexis Jay. The purpose would be to combat 'denial, resistance and legal wrangling among local agencies'. Casey said there should be 'a vigorous approach to righting the wrongs of the past' and state agencies should be held to account for any part they played in allowing these crimes to go undetected and unpunished. 'Blindness, ignorance, prejudice, defensiveness and even good but misdirected intentions, all play a part in a collective failure to properly deter and prosecute offenders or to protect children from harm,' she said. Data from three police forces had identified 'clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage,' Cooper said, citing the report. The collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in child sexual abuse and criminal exploitation cases will be made mandatory. In her report, Casey said that 'there had been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination'. She said that obscuring the data was also unfair on Asian, Pakistani and Muslim communities because they 'needlessly suffer as those with malicious intent use this obfuscation to sow and spread hatred'. 'It is not racist to want to examine the ethnicity of offenders,' Casey wrote, saying it was vital to understanding offending. She said that common assertions that the majority of child sexual abuse offenders are white 'even if true, are at best misleading', and that given that 80% of the UK population is white, it should always be seen as a 'significant issue when [an ethnicity] appears disproportionately over-represented'. But she also warned against this being used by a 'minority of people who pretend to be on the side of victims but are using them – and others who genuinely care about the plight of victims and the need for tougher action – to spread division and hate across communities'. Casey's report found that abused victims were considered wayward or even dubbed 'child prostitutes'. She said that the current law meant in many cases abusers received lesser charges in cases where children aged between 13 and 15 were seen to be 'in love' with the perpetrators. The law should be tightened to ensure there is no exception to those who sexually penetrate a child under 16 being charged with rape, she said. Casey said she believed the public would be horrified to realise this was not the case already. 'I believe many jaws across the country would drop if it was widely known that doing so is called anything but [rape],' the report said. Cooper has said this law will be changed as soon as possible. Above all, Casey said this was a recognition that victims should be treated as children, having been dismissed as promiscuous or wayward. She said they were 'ideal victims, ready to be tricked into thinking they are loved, worthy of their attention – before turning that against them'. She cited cases as recently as 2024 where victims were blamed for their actions – including where a judge in the case of a 13-year-old remarked that the girl 'appeared older than 13' and pointed out what he called her 'promiscuous behaviour'. Cooper said she would add another law change: any asylum seekers who are found guilty of grooming children or committing sexual offences will have their applications rejected. Cooper said more than 800 grooming and sexual exploitation cases will be reviewed – and she expects the figure to rise to more than 1000. In her report, Casey said every local police force in England and Wales should review records to identify cases of child sexual exploitation that have not been acted upon, including a review of cases that have been reported but which have not resulted in prosecutions over the last 10 years. She said there should also be a review of police and children's services records to identify children who have been at risk of or harmed by sexual exploitation over the last 10 years. Potential victims identified from police and children's services records should be approached and investigations taken forward on their behalf. Cooper said the government will ensure that convictions of the young victims, many of whom say they still face appalling discrimination because of their convictions, will be quashed. Casey cited police figures from the 1990s which found almost 4,000 police cautions were given to children between 10 and 18 for offences relating to prostitution. It took until 2015 for the term 'child prostitution' to be dropped and replaced with the term 'child sexual exploitation', when the legislation was changed in the Serious Crime Act. She said that victims had regularly been re-traumatised over the years, from the shame of their convictions and the anger and not being believed or living alongside their perpetrators. 'Sometimes they have criminal convictions for actions they took while under coercion,' Casey said. 'They have to live with fear and the constant shadow over them of an injustice which has never been righted – the shame of not being believed.'
The Herald Scotland
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Social care commission recommendations might not come into effect for a decade
Care minister Stephen Kinnock has described the commission as a 'once in a generation opportunity to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of adult social care'. While it had already been confirmed that the first phase of the commission would report in 2026, it has now been revealed some of its recommendations may not be put into effect for another 10 years. Baroness Louise Casey is leading the commission into adult social care (James Manning/PA) The commission's terms of reference, published by the Government on Friday, said: 'The Commission should produce tangible, pragmatic recommendations that can be implemented in a phased way over a decade.' Voices within the adult social care sector had already raised their concerns about the fact the second phase of the commission might not report until 2028. Age UK said the latest timeline will 'deeply disappoint many older people and their families' and risks bringing change 'far too late' for many. Lady Casey, who has previously led a review into standards and culture of the Metropolitan Police, is also currently overseeing a national audit into grooming gangs in England and Wales. Downing Street said while that work is ongoing this month, there had been 'lots of preparatory work to ensure that (Lady Casey) can hit the ground running in relation to what she's doing on social care'. The Prime Minister's official spokesperson said the two pieces of work on social care and grooming gangs 'don't interrupt each other'. Care minister Stephen Kinnock said the Government is 'grasping the nettle on social care reform' (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The Government has said the first phase of the commission into social care will set out the plan for implementing a National Care Service, a Labour manifesto commitment in last year's election. It said the commission 'should start a national conversation' about the expectations of adult social care and 'build consensus' with the public on how current and future needs can be met. Older people's care will be considered separately to support for working age disabled adults, 'recognising that these services meet different needs', the terms of reference stated. The aim will be to make social care 'more productive, preventative and to give people who draw on care, and their families and carers, more power in the system', ultimately producing 'tangible improvements' felt by the public. This first phase, which the Government said is looking at 'medium term reform', will focus on funding for local authority adult social care services as well as NHS funding 'and whether they are being best used'. Recommendations are expected which will help Government hit its ambition of getting NHS waiting times down to 18 weeks before the end of this Parliament by reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and addressing delayed discharges. All recommendations 'must remain affordable', the Government said, 'operating within the fiscal constraints of Spending Review settlements for the remainder of this Parliament'. The commission is focused mainly on adult social care in England, as health is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But it is understood the commission will consider, as part of its work, what have been described as relevant interactions with other non-devolved matters. The second phase is expected to make longer term recommendations for the 'transformation of adult social care' including the consideration of alternative models in future 'to deliver a fair and affordable adult care system'. Of her meeting earlier this week, Lady Casey said: 'It was important that the first act of this commission should be about hearing from those with real, lived experience of the current social care system. 'I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to this important work, shaping a social care system that supports people to lead fulfilling, dignified and enriched lives.' Unpaid carers who are members of the Carers UK charity were among those to attend Tuesday's meeting and said they felt 'encouraged' that Lady Casey 'has been listening to carers first-hand'. While organisations within the sector welcomed the start of the commission, they stressed the 'urgent' nature of the change needed. The Local Government Association, which represents local councils providing care, urged the Government to 'revisit' the current timescales 'to reflect the urgency of the situation, and the reality that people and organisations have already waited long enough for real change'. The King's Fund health charity said the commission 'offers a real opportunity to truly reform fundamental issues' including the means test regarding costs of care, but urged the commission 'to not wait until its ultimate 2028 deadline before making its recommendations'. The Homecare Association – the UK's membership body for homecare providers – said the commission and the Government must 'move faster than current timelines suggest, to recognise the seriousness of the issues facing care providers' while the National Care Forum, which represents not-for-profit social care, described it as 'absolutely imperative that the commission moves at pace'. But Unison, which describes itself as the largest union in the care sector, said solving problems in social care was 'never going to be a five-minute job' and said the national care service is 'something best introduced properly, not rushed through'. The Government has stressed that the commission is taking a 'phased approach' as part of a long-term vision for the sector, and that the use of the word 'decade' in the terms of reference is to align with the 10-year health plan. Mr Kinnock said: 'As we build an NHS fit for the future through our plan for change, we are shifting more care into the community – and we cannot succeed in this mission without transforming social care. 'This Government is grasping the nettle on social care reform, and I am delighted that Baroness Casey – one of our country's leading public service reformers – is taking forward this work.' Kathryn Smith, chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, said the commission was 'our moment to break the cycle' of a string of reports which have failed to secure 'public understanding and support'. 'This is not just about fixing a broken system, it's about reimagining how we care for each other as a society,' she said. 'Let this be the Commission that ends the political gridlock, builds consensus, and delivers the fair, resilient, and equitable social care system that people not only need, but deserve.'
South Wales Guardian
02-05-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Social care commission recommendations might not come into effect for a decade
An independent commission, announced in January, formally began earlier this week with a meeting between its chairwoman, Baroness Louise Casey, and those with lived experience in the sector. Care minister Stephen Kinnock has described the commission as a 'once in a generation opportunity to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of adult social care'. While it had already been confirmed that the first phase of the commission would report in 2026, it has now been revealed some of its recommendations may not be put into effect for another 10 years. The commission's terms of reference, published by the Government on Friday, said: 'The Commission should produce tangible, pragmatic recommendations that can be implemented in a phased way over a decade.' Voices within the adult social care sector had already raised their concerns about the fact the second phase of the commission might not report until 2028. Age UK said the latest timeline will 'deeply disappoint many older people and their families' and risks bringing change 'far too late' for many. Lady Casey, who has previously led a review into standards and culture of the Metropolitan Police, is also currently overseeing a national audit into grooming gangs in England and Wales. Downing Street said while that work is ongoing this month, there had been 'lots of preparatory work to ensure that (Lady Casey) can hit the ground running in relation to what she's doing on social care'. The Prime Minister's official spokesperson said the two pieces of work on social care and grooming gangs 'don't interrupt each other'. The Government has said the first phase of the commission into social care will set out the plan for implementing a National Care Service, a Labour manifesto commitment in last year's election. It said the commission 'should start a national conversation' about the expectations of adult social care and 'build consensus' with the public on how current and future needs can be met. Older people's care will be considered separately to support for working age disabled adults, 'recognising that these services meet different needs', the terms of reference stated. The aim will be to make social care 'more productive, preventative and to give people who draw on care, and their families and carers, more power in the system', ultimately producing 'tangible improvements' felt by the public. This first phase, which the Government said is looking at 'medium term reform', will focus on funding for local authority adult social care services as well as NHS funding 'and whether they are being best used'. Recommendations are expected which will help Government hit its ambition of getting NHS waiting times down to 18 weeks before the end of this Parliament by reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and addressing delayed discharges. All recommendations 'must remain affordable', the Government said, 'operating within the fiscal constraints of Spending Review settlements for the remainder of this Parliament'. The commission is focused mainly on adult social care in England, as health is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But it is understood the commission will consider, as part of its work, what have been described as relevant interactions with other non-devolved matters. The second phase is expected to make longer term recommendations for the 'transformation of adult social care' including the consideration of alternative models in future 'to deliver a fair and affordable adult care system'. Of her meeting earlier this week, Lady Casey said: 'It was important that the first act of this commission should be about hearing from those with real, lived experience of the current social care system. 'I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to this important work, shaping a social care system that supports people to lead fulfilling, dignified and enriched lives.' Unpaid carers who are members of the Carers UK charity were among those to attend Tuesday's meeting and said they felt 'encouraged' that Lady Casey 'has been listening to carers first-hand'. While organisations within the sector welcomed the start of the commission, they stressed the 'urgent' nature of the change needed. The Local Government Association, which represents local councils providing care, urged the Government to 'revisit' the current timescales 'to reflect the urgency of the situation, and the reality that people and organisations have already waited long enough for real change'. The King's Fund health charity said the commission 'offers a real opportunity to truly reform fundamental issues' including the means test regarding costs of care, but urged the commission 'to not wait until its ultimate 2028 deadline before making its recommendations'. The Homecare Association – the UK's membership body for homecare providers – said the commission and the Government must 'move faster than current timelines suggest, to recognise the seriousness of the issues facing care providers' while the National Care Forum, which represents not-for-profit social care, described it as 'absolutely imperative that the commission moves at pace'. But Unison, which describes itself as the largest union in the care sector, said solving problems in social care was 'never going to be a five-minute job' and said the national care service is 'something best introduced properly, not rushed through'. The Government has stressed that the commission is taking a 'phased approach' as part of a long-term vision for the sector, and that the use of the word 'decade' in the terms of reference is to align with the 10-year health plan. Mr Kinnock said: 'As we build an NHS fit for the future through our plan for change, we are shifting more care into the community – and we cannot succeed in this mission without transforming social care. 'This Government is grasping the nettle on social care reform, and I am delighted that Baroness Casey – one of our country's leading public service reformers – is taking forward this work.' Kathryn Smith, chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, said the commission was 'our moment to break the cycle' of a string of reports which have failed to secure 'public understanding and support'. 'This is not just about fixing a broken system, it's about reimagining how we care for each other as a society,' she said. 'Let this be the Commission that ends the political gridlock, builds consensus, and delivers the fair, resilient, and equitable social care system that people not only need, but deserve.'
