First we were told there couldn’t be a national public inquiry into grooming gangs, because there were going to be at least five local ones. This week, considerable confusion emerged about whether there would even be any of those. Buried within a statement about tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation generally, Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, announced with smooth customer-service rhetoric that “following feedback from local authorities”, instead of local inquiries, there might be “more bespoke work”. She added that “a flexible approach” would be taken, potentially including “local victims’ panels or locally led audits of the handling of historical cases”. It sounded as if she were talking about a kitchen renovation, not a matter of burning public interest.
