Labour response to grooming gangs scandal 'not good enough' warns author of official report, who says patience is wearing 'very, very thin'

Résumé détaillé

Louise Casey published a damning 'audit' of the authorities' failure to deal with grooming gangs last year, saying that the findings of previous reports had been ignored.

Published: 16:55 GMT, 11 November 2026 | Updated: 16:59 GMT, 11 November 2026

Ministers are dragging their feet on tackling Asian grooming gangs, the author of an official report into the scandal has warned.

Louise Casey published a damning ‘audit’ of the authorities’ failure to deal with grooming gangs last year, saying that the findings of previous reports had been ignored.

The Whitehall troubleshooter said ministers had still not acted on calls to collect vital data on the ethnicity of offenders.

She said her patience on the issue had ‘worn very, very thin’ after discovering how little progress had been made since she first reported on grooming gang activity in Rotherham in 2015.

She told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: ‘I would like more momentum on the changes needed, both in the police and the Home Office on the way we collect data.

‘We are still not prepared to collect data in terms of religion and ethnicity – all the things that get us into hot water where we do not have the right evidence to analyse what is going on in terms of abuse of children and grooming gangs and how they operate.

'I'm impatient for change and I don't think the momentum has been good enough.'

Downing Street refused to say whether it would legislate for the report’s recommendation to make having sex with a child aged 13, 14 or 15 a statutory rape offence, as it is for younger children.

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