Grooming gangs evidence may have been destroyed because of 'staggering' Home Office delays
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Evidence on grooming gangs may have been destroyed because of 'staggering' Home Office delays in ordering records to be preserved, a committee of MPs has warned.
Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the home affairs select committee, has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to ask why the Home Office took seven months to tell councils, police and other agencies to retain material relating to the gangs.
She said the information was central to the public inquiry into grooming gangs, which is set to begin next week.
Last June, Baroness Casey of Blackstock's national audit on grooming gangs called for the Home Office to formally require relevant agencies to preserve their records.
But the department did not start making these requests until January 14.
'The failure to provide timely direction to local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies about the need to retain relevant documents means that some records which may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs might have been destroyed,' Dame Karen told Ms Mahmood.
'What assessment has the Home Office made of the consequences – including for possible future legal action – of not directing local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies not to destroy records which may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs?'
Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the home affairs select committee, has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to raise concerns about 'staggering' Home Office delays
The Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands warned that some records could have been destroyed.
She continued in her letter: 'Has the Home Office asked local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies whether they have destroyed any records that may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs? If so, what have you found? If not, will you request this information?
'If a local authority, police force or other relevant agency is found to have destroyed records that may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs, what consequences would they face, given no direction to retain these records was issued by the Government?'
Many local authorities and agencies have policies that allow them to destroy records after six years.
Given a significant number of alleged grooming gang offences took place in the 2010s, some documents relating to them could already be lost.
Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley & Ilkley, was the first to raise concerns about the delay after he found that the instruction had not been issued to the authorities in Bradford.
By issuing a series of freedom of information requests, he revealed that it was not until January 14 that formal instructions were issued.
Mr Moore said: 'This is a staggering failure at the heart of government which once again undermines trust ahead of the national grooming gangs inquiry.
'In June last year, it was made crystal clear that authorities should be instructed to preserve key records.'
He said the Home Office had 'serious questions to answer about what data may have been lost… the potential legal ramifications of that, and whether it had been fully transparent with parliament'.
The public inquiry into grooming gangs will look at claims councils have covered up scandals.
It will have full statutory powers to compel witnesses to attend and draw on criminal investigations, including a new nationwide investigation by the National Crime Agency.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'We have established the independent inquiry into grooming gangs to get the answers that victims and survivors of these horrendous crimes deserve.
'Since [Casey's] national audit, we have worked across government to ensure records relevant to the draft terms of reference are appropriately retained by public sector organisations.
'The inquiry has the power to order the production of documents and failure to comply with such an order without reasonable excuse is an offence punishable by imprisonment.'
