Key figures including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, and Elon Musk, owner of social media site X, have called for a full national public inquiry into UK grooming gangs.

But others – including Professor Alexis Jay who led a landmark inquiry into child sexual abuse – say a new inquiry would cause delays.

FactCheck takes a look.

What inquiries and reviews into grooming gangs have taken place so far?

There have been several local inquiries into grooming gangs as well as a long national inquiry that produced a report specifically about these organised networks.

While the local inquiries often referred to the majority of known perpetrators being of Asian or Pakistani origin the national inquiry said police failures to record the ethnicity of perpetrators made it “impossible” to know if a particular ethnic group was over-represented.

The local inquiries go as far back as 2010 in Derby when a serious case review found missed opportunities to help vulnerable girls who were groomed and raped by a gang of men. Serious case reviews are conducted when a child dies – or is seriously harmed – as a result of abuse or neglect.

In Rotherham in 2014, a report from Professor Alexis Jay – who later chaired the national child abuse inquiry – found at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the town over 15 years.

The next year, in 2015, an independent report from Baroness Louise Casey – who led a review into the standards and culture of the Metropolitan Police in 2023 – said Rotherham Council was “in denial” over the issue.

Six investigations were commissioned by Rotherham Council in 2014 and 2015, following the findings of both the Jay and Casey reports.

The summary report of these investigations said: “The Council has recognised its past failure to carry out its responsibilities to children and young people and ensure proper corporate governance. The Council has sincerely apologised for these failures.”

In 2016 a serious case review in Bristol found investigators were slow to recognise the abuse of nine girls by men in their 20s.

And in Oldham, in 2022, a local, independent grooming gangs review by Greater Manchester Combined Authority found “serious failings” by the police and council.

At the time of publication, the-then leader of Oldham Council, Amanda Chadderton, said: “We fully accept the findings of this independent report. It highlights clear failings, where our services at the time were not good enough to protect vulnerable young people suffering the most awful abuse. For that I am deeply sorry.”

And chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, Stephen Watson, said: “The safeguarding arrangements that were in place in GMP (Greater Manchester Police) during the time period covered by the review were not good enough to protect children from sexual abuse.

“I want to offer my sincere apologies to everyone affected by the events considered in the report.

That same year, a local, independent inquiry in Telford commissioned by Telford and Wrekin Council found child sex crimes were ignored for generations, leading to more than 1,000 girls being abused.

In 2024, a local, independent review in Rochdale found the police and council failed to properly investigate abuse.

At the time of publication, Rochdale Council leader, councillor Neil Emmott, said: “We are deeply sorry that the people who were at Rochdale Council during the period 2004 to 2013 did not recognise nor acknowledge the very serious failures that affected the lives of children in our borough and failed to take the necessary action.

“I want to reassure the public that those responsible are gone and long gone. No amount of contrition or apology can ever repair the awful damage that was done to the lives of these survivors.

GMP’s chief constable Stephen Watson added: “It remains to be a matter of profound regret that victims of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale in the early 2000s were failed by Greater Manchester Police – to them, I apologise.”

What about national inquiries into grooming gangs?

On 2 January this year, leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch wrote in a post on X: “The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.

“Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”

This came a few days after it was revealed that Home Office minister Jess Phillips had rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation. She said the council should lead it instead and pointed to council-run inquiries in Rotherham and Telford.

A national inquiry was requested by the council after the 2022 independent inquiry carried out by Greater Manchester Combined Authority drew criticism for its limited scope, focusing on cases between 2011 and 2014.

A Labour spokesperson said: “The Home Office supports police investigations and independent inquiries to get truth and justice for victims.”

They said Labour had supported the 2022 national inquiry into child sexual abuse under Professor Alexis Jay, adding the government was “working at pace” to implement its recommendations.

The national inquiry into child sexual abuse across England and Wales was commissioned by then-Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014, looking at several aspects of child abuse in detail over seven years.

In February 2022 it produced a report into grooming gangs specifically, which sought to uncover the wider problem by focusing on six case study areas that had not already been subject to high profile independent investigations, such as Rotherham and Rochdale. These were Durham, Swansea, Warwickshire, St Helens, Tower Hamlets and Bristol.

It found that the sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs was ongoing and that it wasn’t a rare problem confined to a small number of areas.

The final report by Prof Jay was then published in October 2022 – the day Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister.

It made 20 recommendations that have still not been implemented in full.

In November 2024, Prof Jay said she felt “frustrated” that none of its 20 recommendations to tackle abuse had been implemented more than two years later.

She said: “It’s a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there’s some public understanding of it.

“But we can only do what we can to press the government to look at the delivery of all of this.

“It doesn’t need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done.”

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