Following today’s announcement by the Scottish Government of a new public inquiry into group based child sexual abuse and exploitation, a spokesperson for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) said:
SCAI has heard and continues to hear evidence of grooming for sexual exploitation of children in care, whether this is by a single person or groups of people who persuade a child to engage in sexual activity.
We can also investigate grooming children for other harmful activities including any criminal activities.
SCAI's terms of reference require it to consider not only past systemic failures but, importantly, also whether such failures have been or are being addressed and what still needs to be done to address them.
Anyone who has relevant evidence should get in touch with the Inquiry’s witness support team on talktous@childabuseinquiry.scot
or 0800 0929 300.
Regarding today’s announcement, we are reassured by the Minister’s commitment to ensuring the new inquiry will not duplicate the ongoing valuable work of SCAI. We, of course, await further details on the new Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.