SUSAN HALL AM CALLS FOR LONDON MODULE OF NATIONAL GROOMING GANG INQUIRY IN NEW REPORT

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Leader of the City Hall Conservatives, Susan Hall AM, has called for a London module of the national grooming gang inquiry in her new report published today (28 January).  

In The Shadows: London’s Grooming Gangs reveals the scale of child protection failings across the capital, with insights from survivors, victims, and former police detectives who reached out to share their stories, following Hall’s longstanding campaigning on the issue of grooming gangs, exploitation, and child protection in London. 

The report challenges the long-held belief within the Metropolitan Police Service and City Hall that London ‘does not have’ the kind of grooming gangs seen in dozens of towns and cities across the country, and that group-based child sexual exploitation only exists in the capital within the context of county lines drug gangs. 

Given the serious child protection failings within London boroughs and the Met’s well-documented issues with managing and investigating child abuse cases, the report argues that had a Rochdale-style grooming gang been operating in a London borough in the 2000s or the 2010s, it would not have been uncovered, and the perpetrators would not have been brought to justice. 

Assembly Member Hall has produced the report to highlight our current understanding of the scale of grooming gangs in the capital as inadequate, and to make the strongest possible case for a London module of the national inquiry. The report also seeks to highlight the appalling criminality that London’s grooming gang victims have suffered. 

Hall has written to Baroness Anne Longfield CBE as Chair of the national grooming gang inquiry, to formally ask for a London module of the investigation, and for the inquiry to set out its terms of reference for assessing this criminality in the capital. 

The report makes a series of recommendations for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the Met, and national Government, including a call for:  

• A dedicated focus on London as its own module within the national grooming gang inquiry, progressing as quickly as possible, and considering evidence from all 32 of London’s boroughs. 

• The formation of an exploitation board run by MOPAC, with £1.5 million of funding. With the Met, local councils, NHS representatives, and child protection charities, the board should develop best-practice interventions guided by insights from victims, and produce a new London-wide Exploitation Prevention Strategy. 

• Amendments to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Modern Slavery Act, and the establishment of a code of practice for the disruption of grooming gangs. 

• London-wide public awareness campaigns on child sexual exploitation, grooming gangs, and coercive abuse, including advertising across the TfL network. 

Susan Hall AM said: “The question I wanted to answer here was this: if a Rochdale-like grooming gang had been operating in a London borough in the 2000s or 2010s, would it have been uncovered, would the perpetrators have been caught, and would the victims have received justice? 

“Sadiq Khan and senior leadership within the Metropolitan Police Service have always believed the answer to be yes. Having produced this report and spoken to survivors of heinous abuse, to the families of victims, and to former Met detectives, I simply cannot believe this to be the case. Our current understanding of grooming gangs in London is not fit for purpose, and the national inquiry should have a specific London module. 

“I would like to thank all those victims who reached out to me and spoke so bravely about the appalling criminality they suffered. My sincere hope is that we can get them the justice they so badly deserve, and that we end this heinous exploitation for good.”