Scottish government to order fresh inquiry into grooming gangs

A grooming gangs inquiry is expected to be ordered by the Scottish government.

The decision is being made by the Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, who is making a statement at Holyrood later on protecting children from harm.

A grooming gangs expert, Prof Alexis Jay, has been overseeing a national review of the evidence in Scotland over the last few months to inform the government's thinking.

It is understood that sufficient information has come to light to merit the instruction of a further inquiry.

Jay's review, which was announced in December, was designed to inform a future decision on whether or not there should be a judge-led public inquiry.

At the time it was welcomed by Scottish Labour but Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said it did not go "far enough" and called for a full public inquiry.

Ministers previously said they thought more evidence was required but that threshold now appears to have been met.

Last month, an independent investigation found Justice Secretary Angela Constance broke the ministerial code after making controversial comments about Jay in parliament.

The SNP minister was accused of misrepresenting Jay after she told MSPs the expert did not support further grooming gang inquiries. However, Jay later contacted the government to clarify that her remarks did not refer to inquiries in Scotland.

Constance, who was deemed to have breached the ministerial code inadvertently, was given a written reprimand.

In February last year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer commissioned Dame Louise Casey to evaluate the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level.

In her review, Dame Louise recommended a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation in England and Wales.

Sir Keir accepted the recommendation and said it was "the right thing to do" based on what she had uncovered.

Called the Independent Commission on Grooming Gangs, the inquiry in England and Wales will have legal powers to direct targeted investigations in local areas and summon witnesses to give evidence.

The UK government said a panel of abuse survivors would be given a central role in the inquiry, however, four resigned in October in protest at how the government had handled the process so far.