What action is the Met taking to combat grooming gangs?
A 2022 report by Professor Alexis Jay, the former Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, found child sexual abuse to be “endemic” in England and Wales.1
On Thursday 16 January 2025, the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper announced a “rapid audit” of grooming gangs, plus up to five new “victim centred, locally-led inquiries”. The national three-month audit, led by Dame Louise Casey, will “begin soon”.2
The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee will tomorrow question the Metropolitan Police service and the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime on the work being done in relation to grooming gangs in London, and to understand what impact the national audit will have in the capital.
The Committee will also continue its scrutiny of the Mayor’s draft Police and Crime Plan 2025-2029.
The guests are:
- Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime
- Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist KPM, Frontline Policing, Metropolitan Police Service
- Claire Waxman OBE, London’s Independent Victims’ Commissioner
The meeting will take place on Wednesday 29 January 2025 from 10am in the Chamber, City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube.
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Notes to editors
- Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse - Hansard - UK Parliament 16 January 2025
- Home Office, Survivors of sexual abuse to be empowered in closed case reviews, 16 January 2025
- Susan Hall AM, Chairman of the Police and Crime Committee, is available for interview.
- Find out more about the work of the Police and Crime Committee.
- Read the agenda in full.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For more information, please contact Tony Smyth in the Assembly Media Office on 07763 251727 or [email protected]. For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the Assembly duty press officer.