Birmingham and Wales Named as Next Targets for National Grooming Gangs Inquiry

Birmingham and Wales have been selected as the next areas to undergo local investigations as part of the national inquiry into child sexual abuse carried out by grooming gangs, the inquiry has confirmed.

The statutory probe, which is being led by Baroness Anne Longfield, the former children's commissioner for England, is conducting a series of targeted local studies in regions across England and Wales. Each local investigation is designed to examine both the scale and the character of grooming gang abuse within that specific community.

Birmingham, England's second-largest city, and the nation of Wales will now join a growing list of locations subject to these detailed local examinations. The inquiry has already confirmed that Oldham in Greater Manchester, as well as Bradford and Keighley in West Yorkshire, will be scrutinised, alongside a separate investigation covering London.

The announcement of the Birmingham and Wales investigations represents a significant widening of the inquiry's geographic reach, extending its focus beyond the northern English towns that have dominated public discourse on grooming gangs for more than a decade. Birmingham has previously been the subject of intense scrutiny over historical child sexual exploitation cases, while Wales has seen several high-profile prosecution cases in towns such as Rotherham's Welsh counterparts in Wrexham and Cardiff.

The inquiry holds statutory powers, meaning it can compel individuals and institutions to provide testimony and evidence. Specifically, it has the authority to require organisations and people to explain what they "did or did not do to protect children from being sexually abused." This coercive power is seen as critical to uncovering institutional failures that might otherwise remain hidden.

According to the inquiry, locations are selected for investigation based on a set of established criteria. These include how victims and survivors were treated when they first came forward to report abuse, and whether there were missed opportunities to prevent harm before it occurred. The decision to include Birmingham and Wales suggests that the inquiry has identified potential shortcomings in those areas that merit deeper examination.

The national inquiry was originally announced by former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June 2025, following years of campaigning by survivors and advocacy groups who argued that existing reviews had been too limited in scope. However, the process has not been without controversy. The inquiry faced turbulence when abuse survivors publicly called on former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to resign, reflecting ongoing tensions between victims' representatives and the government over the pace and direction of the investigation.

Despite these early difficulties, the inquiry formally began its work in April this year, equipped with a budget of £65 million. The substantial funding reflects the scale of the task, which involves reviewing thousands of historical cases, interviewing witnesses, and assessing the performance of police forces, councils, and social services across multiple jurisdictions.

Baroness Longfield, who previously served as children's commissioner for England from 2015 to 2021, brings extensive experience in child protection policy to her role as chair. During her tenure as commissioner, she repeatedly warned about gaps in safeguarding and called for a more coordinated national response to child sexual exploitation. Her appointment has been broadly welcomed by campaigners, though some have questioned whether the inquiry's structure will allow it to deliver timely recommendations.

The local investigations are intended to complement the national inquiry's broader work, providing granular, area-specific evidence that can inform wider conclusions about systemic failures. Each local study will examine how agencies responsible for child protection – including local authorities, police, health services, and the voluntary sector – responded to reports of grooming and exploitation.

For Birmingham, the inquiry's attention comes after a series of convictions related to organised child sexual exploitation in the city over the past two decades. Several high-profile trials have highlighted the vulnerability of young people in care and the difficulties authorities faced in identifying and disrupting grooming networks. The city's large and diverse population, along with its complex network of public services, presents particular challenges for safeguarding.

In Wales, the inquiry's focus will span multiple local authority areas, each with its own safeguarding arrangements and historical caseloads. Wales has its own devolved child protection framework, which operates alongside the England-wide statutory inquiry, adding a layer of constitutional complexity to the process. The inquiry will need to work closely with Welsh government officials and local safeguarding boards.

The inquiry's reliance on compelling evidence from institutions is likely to generate significant public interest. Unlike previous reviews that relied on voluntary cooperation, the statutory basis of this inquiry means that refusal to provide evidence could lead to legal consequences. This is expected to encourage more candid testimony from organisations that might otherwise seek to protect their reputations.

Survivors and advocacy groups have consistently argued that without the power to compel testimony, inquiries into grooming gangs risk producing incomplete accounts. The £65 million budget and the statutory framework suggest that the government is attempting to address these concerns, though questions remain about how quickly findings will be published and whether they will lead to concrete reforms.

The selection of Birmingham and Wales also raises questions about resource allocation and the sequencing of investigations. With multiple local studies running concurrently, the inquiry must balance thoroughness against the need to deliver findings within a reasonable timeframe. Survivors who have waited years for answers may grow frustrated if the process becomes too protracted.

As the inquiry progresses, it is expected to publish interim findings from each local investigation, along with overarching recommendations. These are likely to focus on improving multi-agency cooperation, enhancing victim support, and ensuring that lessons from past failures are embedded in future safeguarding practices. The inclusion of Birmingham and Wales signals that the inquiry intends to examine grooming gang abuse as a nationwide problem, not one confined to a handful of high-profile towns.