Fiona Woolf to Replace Butler-sloss As Chair of Child Sex Abuse Inquiry

By Owen Bowcott
The Guardian
September 5, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/05/fiona-woolf-replace-butler-sloss-chair-child-sex-abuse-inquiry

Fiona Woolf is the lord mayor of the City of London and a corporate lawyer. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

The lord mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf, has been named as the chair of the independent inquiry commissioned by the government into historical child sex abuse.

Woolf, a corporate lawyer, will replace Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who stepped down days after being appointed in July after questions were raised over potential conflicts of interest because her brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general at the time of some of the events to be investigated.

Professor Alexis Jay, author of the recent report into child sex abuse in Rotherham, is to act as an expert adviser to the panel, the Home Office said.

The inquiry will consider whether, and to what extent, public bodies and other institutions fulfilled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. Its purpose, according to the Home Office, is to address public concern over successive child abuse scandals.

The inquiry still has to finalise membership of its panel and agree its terms of reference.

Woolf will be assisted by Graham Wilmer, a child sexual abuse victim and founder of the Lantern Project, and Barbara Hearn, the former deputy chief executive of the National Children's Bureau. Ben Emmerson QC will serve as counsel to the inquiry.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said: "In recent years, we have seen appalling cases of organised and persistent child sex abuse which have exposed serious failings by public bodies and important institutions. These failings have sent shockwaves through the country and shaken public confidence in the pillars of society in which we should have total trust.

"That is why the government has announced that an independent panel of experts will consider whether such organisations have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. We are absolutely clear that we must learn the lessons of past failures and the panel will be instrumental in helping us to do this."

Woolf said she was honoured to be asked to lead the inquiry.

"Ensuring lessons are learned from the mistakes which have been made in the past and resulted in children being subjected to the most horrific crimes is a vital and solemn undertaking … I look forward to working with the panel to ensure these mistakes are identified and never repeated," she said.

The inquiry is scheduled to provide an interim report to parliament before the election in May 2015. A separate review, led by the NSPCC's chief executive, Peter Wanless, focusing on the Home Office's handling of historical child sex abuse allegations, is due to report soon.