National inquiry names London, Oldham, Bradford, Keighley

A national independent inquiry into grooming gangs has announced its first four locations for detailed investigation: London, Oldham, Bradford, and Keighley. The inquiry, which officially began its work on Wednesday, will examine how child sexual exploitation by these gangs functioned and why public institutions repeatedly failed to protect vulnerable children.

Chaired by former Children's Commissioner for England, Baroness Anne Longfield, the statutory inquiry possesses legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organizations to hand over documents. Its stated task is to find out why a catastrophic failure of the state happened and continues to happen, and to hold accountable the institutions and individuals responsible. The inquiry is scheduled to conclude no later than March 2029.

The first phase will involve local investigations in the named areas, examining how children were targeted, the institutional response, and how victims were treated. These findings will feed into broader national accountability hearings. Those hearings, set to begin before the end of the year, will scrutinize Whitehall departments, national police institutions, the NHS, local...