UK government announces new local inquiries into child sex abuse

Al Jazeera:

The United Kingdom’s government has announced it will back new local inquiries into child sexual abuse and undertake a “rapid” review of the extent of child sexual exploitation in the country, following criticism over historic grooming scandals from the US technology billionaire Elon Musk.

The scandals involved organised groups sexually exploiting vulnerable girls from the 1980s until at least the 2010s. A 2014 inquiry found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The issue was at the centre of a political firestorm last week when a war of words broke out between Musk and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions in England when the scandals came to light.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Thursday said the government would set out a timetable to implement the 20 recommendations of a national inquiry published in 2022 but would also go further and back new local investigations.

“Despite all those national inquiries, reports and hundreds of recommendations, far too little action has been taken, and shamefully little progress has been made,” Cooper told Parliament.