UNITED KINGDOM
South Yorkshire Times
The woman who blew the lid on the child sexual exploitation scandal in Rotherham is to begin working on a national inquiry into historical child abuse today.
Professor Alexis Jay, who published a report which revealed that 1,400 children had been groomed and abused by largely Asian men in Rotherham while authorities turned a blind eye, is on a panel of experts set up last year amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.
Led by Judge Lowell Goddard, the inquiry has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.
The inquiry’s terms of reference state that its purpose will include considering ‘the extent to which State and non-State institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation’.
It will cover England and Wales.
Today Justice Goddard will outline how the inquiry will run, how evidence will be taken, timescales and areas of public life that will be examined.
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