Speaking in the House of Commons this week, Cooper pledged to ‘take action… immediately’ on all 12 recommendations in Baroness Louise Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (grooming gangs).
The Home Office commissioned the audit to assess the nature, scale and characteristics of gang-based exploitation, including ethnicity of offenders and cultural and social drivers.
The law will be changed so adults who rape children under 16 can no longer plead consent as part of their defence, Cooper said. Abuse victims convicted of ‘child prostitution offences’ while their rapists escaped prosecution will have their convictions disregarded and criminal records expunged.
Cooper said the government will introduce mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse or exploitation, and aggravated offences of grooming, in the Crime and Policing Bill. Both were among 20 recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which reported in 2022.
Amy Clowrey, director and solicitor at Switalskis, who specialises in child sexual abuse compensation, said: ‘We cannot continue producing report after report with little follow-through.’
‘Survivors deserve meaningful change, not just headlines. It is also important that wraparound support is set up for survivors of abuse as both the local and national inquiries into historical abuse will be incredibly traumatising for many, as it is a topic which is closely followed by the national media.
‘I urge swift implementation of all recommendations to ensure better support for survivors and improved protection for children. Without urgent action, the cycle of harm and institutional failure will continue unchecked.’
Cooper said the police have identified for formal review more than 800 closed cases involving grooming and child sexual exploitation allegations, expected to rise to 1,000 in coming weeks.
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