Badenoch welcomes expansion of national grooming gangs inquiry to Birmingham and Wales
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the inclusion of Birmingham in the national grooming gangs inquiry.
In Brief
- •Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the inclusion of Birmingham in the national grooming gangs inquiry.
- •The inquiry now covers Birmingham and Wales and will examine the prevalence of child sexual exploitation and victim experience.
- •Birmingham Children’s Trust reported 98 CSE cases under investigation and 99 recorded between January and June, with more than 140 children at risk.
- •Badenoch urged the inquiry to move quickly for justice and praised Labour’s role while criticizing previous Tory oversight.
- •West Midlands Police only began routinely recording the ethnicity of CSE offenders in the past 12 months, a point stressed by Badenoch.
Why It Matters
The expansion of the statutory independent inquiry signals a heightened national focus on child sexual exploitation, aiming to uncover systemic failures and deliver justice for victims. By broadening its remit to Birmingham and Wales, the inquiry seeks to address gaps in data collection—particularly the recent start of ethnicity recording by West Midlands Police—and to inform policy reforms that could prevent future exploitation.
Key Details
- Inquiry expansion
- Birmingham and Wales
- CSE cases under investigation
- 98
- CSE crimes recorded Jan-June
- 99
- Children at risk
- 140+
- Ethnicity recording start
- Last 12 months
Context & Background
The inquiry follows the 2025 launch of a national investigation into grooming gangs, building on the earlier Jay inquiry into Rotherham that examined child sexual exploitation in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Original Reporting & Sources
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