Why The National Inquiry Must Name Names

In 2013, the Home Affairs Select Committee recorded that senior officials in Rochdale and Rotherham had failed in their duty of care to children subjected to organised sexual abuse.

The Committee identified responsibility up the chain of command. It named the council Chief Executive, the Director of Children’s Services, the Local Safeguarding Children Board, and individual practitioners.

It recorded that senior figures claimed not to know about the abuse during years when it was documented by frontline staff. That claim of ignorance was rejected.

The Committee stated it was no excuse. It stated that those in senior positions were responsible for the consequences of their inaction.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmhaff/68/68i.pdf

Despite the conclusions of one of the most powerful government committees;

• No criminal investigation into senior officials followed.
• No police force opened misconduct inquiries into those named.
• No minister referred the findings for prosecution.

The Committee also recorded that Rotherham had secured 'no prosecutions relating to organised child sexual exploitation since 2010.'

That finding was published in 2013. The first significant prosecutions in Rotherham relating to organised child sexual exploitation took place years later, following further public exposure and additional reports.

Those prosecutions were brought ONLY against a handful of perpetrators. They did not include senior council officers, police commanders, or safeguarding leads identified in the earlier parliamentary findings.

No individual named by Parliament in 2013 was charged.

Political decisions taken after 2013 determined how these findings were handled.

The Home Affairs Select Committee report was the closest the state came to pursuing those responsible for failing children and for suppressing the truth. It identified senior officials, rejected claims of ignorance, and stated that responsibility rested at the top.

What followed was a retreat.

The Jay Report documented prolonged abuse and institutional neglect in Rotherham. It confirmed the scale of harm already known to Parliament. It did not pursue criminal liability for senior officials. No referrals were made. Responsibility was redirected into local reform.

Telford later confirmed industrial-scale exploitation and repeated police failure. Again, the findings did not lead to criminal proceedings against senior decision-makers. No prosecutions followed.

In Greater Manchester, reviews were commissioned with terms that limited examination to organisational learning. Individual criminal responsibility was excluded from scope. That exclusion was accepted. No request was made to widen it.

Across each case, the same decision was repeated;

• record harm
• exclude liability
• move on.

Language changed. Structures were altered. Senior figures exited quietly. Criminal accountability never followed.

Only after years of pressure from victims, journalists, and campaigners has a National Inquiry been forced. That inquiry now sits at the same decision point reached in 2013.

Whether to follow responsibility where Parliament already traced it or to retreat again.

A National Inquiry has now been confirmed. Its Terms of Reference are being consulted on.

Under the Inquiries Act 2005, an inquiry may act only within its Terms of Reference. If individual responsibility and criminal referral are not explicitly required, they can be lawfully avoided.

Previous inquiries operated within those limits. Harm was described. Failures were recorded. Individuals were not named. Prosecution did not follow.

This Inquiry will do the same unless its remit is written differently.

What You Can Do Now

Contact your MP and ask one question only.

Will they write to Baroness Anne Longfield demanding that the Terms of Reference explicitly require the Inquiry to name individuals, examine political decision-making, make findings where conduct may meet criminal thresholds, and refer cases for prosecution.

The consultation closes soon. After that, the outcome is already set. Use the draft below. Do not deviate from it.

Subject: Will you write to Anne Longfield on Inquiry powers and accountability?

Dear [MP NAME],

In 2013, Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee recorded that senior officials had failed in their duty of care to children subjected to organised sexual abuse.

Those officials were identified.

No prosecutions followed.

Under section 5(5) of the Inquiries Act 2005, a statutory inquiry may act only within its Terms of Reference. Unless individual accountability and referral are explicitly required, an inquiry can avoid naming individuals or recommending criminal investigation.

Will you write to Baroness Anne Longfield requesting that the Terms of Reference explicitly require the Inquiry to:

- identify by name individuals whose acts or omissions may meet criminal thresholds, including misconduct in public office; and
- refer such cases to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Please confirm, yes or no, whether you will do so.

Yours sincerely,
[NAME]

Responses will be published. Silence will be recorded.

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