Legacy of Rotherham negligence shows need for greater accountability of public officials
18 October 2014
The Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons publishes its report, Child sexual exploitation and the response to localised grooming: follow-up.
- Report: Child sexual exploitation and the response to localised grooming: follow-up
- Report: Child sexual exploitation and the response to localised grooming: follow-up (PDF)
- Inquiry: Child sexual exploitation and the response to localised grooming: follow-up
- Home Affairs Committee
Conclusions
- There is no mechanism at all to suspend or remove a Police and Crime Commissioner for behaviour which falls short of criminal. This report includes a draft Bill which suggests mechanisms for removing PCCs from their post.
Strengthening Rotherham Council children’s services
- Alexis Jay’s report published in August 2014 brought to light a great deal of information about ongoing child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.
- In September 2014, the Committee took evidence in private from a former researcher who had been employed by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council between 2000 and 2002 as a Research and Development Officer working on a Home Office-funded pilot under the Crime Reduction Program, on an initiative called “Tackling Prostitution: What Works?” Her case is not the first in which it has been alleged that files of information relating to child sexual exploitation have disappeared.
- There is compelling evidence that both Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and South Yorkshire Police ignored numerous, credible warnings about the scale of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. Given that these warnings came from Risky Business and others who had been expressly tasked with investigating and tackling the problem, it is difficult to understand why they were not taken more seriously. It is even suggested that documentary evidence was stolen in order to suppress it.
Chair's comments
Rt. Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Committee, said:
“Shaun Wright, Rotherham’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Joyce Thacker, Director of Children’s Services, initially refused to accept the Committee’s recommendations to step down. Mr Wright’s position highlighted the fact that there is no way of removing PCCs, therefore the legacy of this episode is a draft Bill, which sets out a suggested procedure to do so. It is right that Roger Stone, former Council Leader, and subsequently Joyce Thacker also resigned, and that the Chief Executive of Rotherham Council, Martin Kimber will leave his position in December. It is vital that children’s services are dramatically improved to prevent a similar situation from happening again. Rotherham deserves a fresh start. Public officials must be held to account for their failure to act.
We found it shocking that evidence of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham was ignored by both Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police. A number of individuals attempted to bring these crimes to light, only to face obstacles from the Council and Police which in some cases questioned their credibility and the veracity of their claims. If the Council and Police had taken these warnings seriously, the abusers could have been brought to justice more quickly and some of the later victims could have been spared their ordeal. Others should take serious note.
The proliferation of revelations about files which can no longer be located gives rise to public suspicion of a deliberate cover-up. The only way to address these concerns is with a full, transparent and urgent investigation. The Home Office must do everything in its power to locate any missing files in its possession relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and other places.”