Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleBaroness Anne Longfield is leading the inquiry (PA)London, Oldham, Bradfor and Keighley will be the initial focus of the grooming gangs inquiry. The £65 million probe will investigate how grooming gangs operated and the responses of police, councils, health services, social care, and schools. The inquiry aims to identify serious failures in the response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs in these areas. Baroness Anne Longfield, former children’s commissioner for England, is leading the inquiry, which possesses legal powers to compel evidence. Any evidence of crimes uncovered during the inquiry will be referred to Operation Beaconport, a national police operation. In fullGrooming gang inquiry announces first locations it will focus onThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

The £65million probe is investigating how grooming gangs operated and how police, councils, health services, social care services and schools responded.

The first places to be investigated by the Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs will be Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, and London, with more areas to be confirmed soon

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Inquiry will compel individuals and institutions to explain what they did or did not do to protect children from sexual abuse

A national inquiry into grooming gangs has announced that investigations will begin in Oldham, Bradford, Keighley and London as part of its first phase.

Oldham, London, Bradford and Keighley will be the first places to be investigated by the grooming gangs inquiry, chaired by former children's commissioner Anne Longfield.