Council has 'nothing to hide' over grooming review

A council has said it has "nothing to hide" and will fully cooperate with a national review into grooming gangs.

Members of Bradford Council met on Tuesday for the first time since Baroness Casey published her report and called for a full national inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) in England and Wales.

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen said there had been calls for a national inquiry for years – including by Keighley MP Robbie Moore - but the council and West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin previously said it was not needed.

Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said the authority would now work with the review and hand over un-redacted documents.

She said: "Child sexual exploitation is a terrible crime and has a long lasting impact on its victims.

"Anyone who has spoken to victims know how appalling and brutal the perpetrators are.

"The victims should have been protected and loved, not tortured in this way."

She said it was clear victims had been let down because this was the finding of numerous reviews on this issue that had been published by the council.

"These reviews made for stomach churning reading," she said.

She went on to tell members the way the council and police dealt with CSE was now vastly different from a few years ago.

Councillor Brendan Stubbs shared concerns about the council redacting information that could "hinder the national review".

He asked: "Can you assure us that Bradford Council will only redact what is totally necessary and not hinder victims from getting the justice they deserve?"

Ms Hinchcliffe responded that she had "sent all reports we've done unredacted to the Home Secretary, so we've got nothing to hide here".

Meanwhile, Ms Poulsen said the council's co-operation into the review was "about time".

"We welcome your U-turn, but you have broken your trust with the victims I have spoken to," she said.

Deputy leader councillor Imran Khan said there was "no more abhorrent crime that we will ever talk about in this Council chamber".

"Every community finds this crime abhorrent," he added.

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