Two reports of child sexual abuse by grooming gangs are made to police daily amid calls for national inquiry
TWO reports of child sexual abuse by grooming gangs are made to police every day.
The revelation comes as Labour faces renewed calls for a national inquiry.
Figures from all 43 forces across England and Wales show 717 cases were recorded in 2023, and 572 in the first nine months of 2024.
They indicate that last year 63 per cent involved white suspects and 13.7 per cent Pakistani suspects.
British Pakistanis comprise 2.7 per cent of the population.
Police urged caution as ethnicity was recorded only in a small fraction of the cases.
The figures were revealed by the Hydrant programme, a police scheme set up in the wake of Prof Alexis Jay’s seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse.
Her 20 proposals have yet to be implemented.
Yesterday Labour bigwigs again clashed over whether to launch a new national inquiry.
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has said reviews he commissioned in the city plus Oldham and Rochdale could not compel police to give evidence and a limited national inquiry was still needed.
But Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said victims had already waited too long for justice.
She said the Jay report exposed how girls were not believed because they were young and working-class — and that the system supposed to protect victims had protected itself instead.
No10 denied suggestions PM Sir Keir Starmer was wavering on blocking a national inquiry.