Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said officials like social workers who failed to act on grooming gangs should ‘face the full force of everything they deserve’
People who “disgraced” public office by failing to tackle grooming gangs should be sent to prison, Jess Phillips has said.
The Safeguarding Minister told MPs she hopes social workers and officials who failed to act “face the full force of everything they deserve”. She revealed that nearly 1,300 cases which were dropped are curently being re-examined by police – with 216 rape allegations being treated as “highest priority”. And Ms Phillips vowed a public inquiry into the scandal will leave “no stone unturned” and vowed to put victims at the heart of the process.
Ms Phillips told the Commons: “Let me say and be very clear – and it be taken away by everybody who I’m sure has the victim’s best interests at heart – that it (the inquiry) will cover what it needs to cover to uncover the truth, and no stone will be left unturned.
READ MORE: Asylum hotels can be closed earlier than key government date, Yvette Cooper saysREAD MORE: Keir Starmer calls urgent meeting to tackle asylum hotel closures
“And and that will make difficult conversations for people. And if people are found by our court system to have undermined and (committed) disgrace in public office, then of course, they should be sent to prison.”
It came after Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp questioned whether social workers who failed to protect victims would be punished. Ms Phillips said: “I very much hope that we uncover the kind of social workers that he referred to. And I hope that they face the full force of everything that they deserve to face.”
A public inquiry was announced after a damning report found in June that victims of grooming gangs were repeatedly let down by the authorities in a catalogue of failure spanning decades. 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 previously announced that grooming gang cases which were dropped will be re-investigated by police. In an update to MPs, Ms Phillips said: “In January, the Home Secretary asked police forces to identify cases involving grooming and child exploitation that had been closed, with no further action to pursue lines of inquiry and reopened investigations where appropriate.
“As a result of that commission, 1,273 cases have now been identified for form of review and with the new national operation, has identified 216 highest priority cases that are those involving an allegation of rape, which are being accelerated as a matter of urgency.
“We expect policing to meticulously report over these cases and work with associated victims to relentlessly pursue perpetrators who should be behind bars. That includes the ongoing investigation relating to South Yorkshire Police’s handling of reports into child sexual abuse and exploitation in Rotherham.”
She said the probe into South Yorkshire Police will be carried out by the National Crime Agency. The Home Office minister added: “As we have said from the outset, we are determined to ensure that every survivor of grooming gangs gets the support and justice they deserve, that every perpetrator is put behind bars and every case – historical or current – has been properly investigated and every person or institution who looked the other way is held accountable.
“That is a stain on our society and it should finally be removed for good.” Ms Phillips added that the Government’s child sexual abuse (CSA) taskforce had contributed to 827 arrests in the year starting July 2024 and said more than £9million had been invested in providing new technology to investigate abuse.
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster