From no evidence to a public inquiry: How the SNP U-turned on grooming gangs
After announcing a full public inquiry into group-based child sexual abuse, the SNP needs to demonstrate it’s more than cynical electioneering
Five months ago, Justice Secretary Angela Constance told the Scottish Parliament that there was no need for a public inquiry into the organised sexual abuse of girls. On September 16, the minister insisted that there was no evidence of widespread grooming gangs in Scotland.
Indeed, she cited the UK’s leading expert on the subject, Professor Alexis Jay, in support of her argument, saying: “She shares my view and has put on the record and stated to the media that she does not support further inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation… She says that it is now time that ‘people should just get on with it.’”
Constance’s confident assertion that Professor Jay supported her inaction turned out to be a misrepresentation of the facts. Professor Jay had actually made the comments in relation to the situation in England. But no matter. Constance survived a subsequent investigation into her misleading statement. It was SNP business as usual.
On Wednesday, only four weeks before this session of Holyrood ends and 71 days before the Scottish elections, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth stood up in the Holyrood chamber, dressed in her most sober suit, wearing an even more sombre expression, and announced a full public inquiry into the prevalence of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation.
“We will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice,” she promised. And in a display of jaw-dropping audacity, she said that Professor Jay would lead the statutory inquiry, complemented by a truth project led by John O’Brien to “ensure that the voice of survivors is central to our collective efforts”.
A more cynical observer than I might suggest that Gilruth’s U-turn has everything to do with the upcoming election campaign and less with the SNP government’s sudden concerns for girls raped by networks of men who exploit them at their most vulnerable.
After all, grooming gangs are not a recent phenomenon. A decade ago, in the wake of revelations from Rotherham and other English towns about the scale of organised sexual abuse, campaigners argued that Scotland was under-investigating the issue. The Scottish Government dismissed their concerns.
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A 2022 report by Sky News suggested that organised child sexual abuse was a “hidden pandemic” across the Central Belt of Scotland. Yet no public inquiry was considered.
More recently, survivors have begun to speak out, including ‘Taylor’, who last December told ITV News that she had been sexually abused by a group of Pakistani men while growing up in the care system in the West of Scotland. And Holly Alex, whose recent memoir, I Thought You Cared, exposes how she was one of around 25 teenage girls in care in Edinburgh who were similarly abused.
Yet, until a few days ago, ministers seemed content to ignore the voices of survivors such as Taylor and Holly, insisting the system was functioning perfectly well and that we should “just get on with it”. Whatever “it” was. But the growing calls for a public inquiry – and the prospect of sexual exploitation becoming a factor in the forthcoming election – appears to have forced the government into action.
One of the most urgent voices calling for a full inquiry was Joani Reid, the Labour MP for East Kilbride. While she welcomed Gilruth’s announcement, she made no attempt to hide her frustration at the length of time it took the SNP government to agree to a proper investigation. She told me that the priority should always be to examine the system, not defend it.
“The SNP has been in government for nearly two decades. Child protection, policing, social work – these are devolved responsibilities. Accountability sits in Edinburgh,” she said. "The Scottish Government now needs to show this isn’t just a concession wrung out of them. An inquiry only works if it’s properly resourced, genuinely independent and works to a clear timetable. There can’t be carve-outs. Police, councils, ministers, civil servants, publicly funded charities – everyone has to be open to scrutiny”.
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Therein lies the rub. John Swinney and his strategists may have ticked off “grooming gangs” on their campaign to-do list, but the hard work has yet to begin. Sexual exploitation, abuse and male violence against women and girls is reaching epidemic levels in this country.
The latest figures from Police Scotland show yet another rise in sexual crimes, up by 10 per cent. Indecent images of children are up by 20 per cent. Reports of rape and attempted rape are also on the increase.
And as I wrote here more than a year ago, there is no reliable data to show the true extent of the child sexual exploitation that festers in our neighbourhoods.
As Reid said, Gilruth and her colleagues may well be trying to “cover their backsides” by announcing a full public inquiry. Be that as it may. Self-preservation is an essential skill for any ambitious politician. The inquiry may have been born of cynicism, but it must be executed with serious intent.
No public agency, whether social work departments, Police Scotland or the Scottish government, should be protected. Decision-makers – at every level – must be held to account for any failures in the system, and the inquiry must deliver reforms that will safeguard our young people.
Scotland has had enough of performative government, of politicians who indulge in PR campaigns rather than deliver effective services. We are fed up of a system that cannot protect women and girls, of an establishment that ignores the cries of the most vulnerable. The key question the public inquiry must answer is: will Scotland’s children be safer as a direct result of its work? The answer must be yes.