How Parliament ignored sex abuse allegations

Sexual exploitation of a single child is a despicable crime, but the whole country is in shock at the industrial scale of the abuse that has been revealed in Rotherham and other towns and cities. The tragedy of the abuse is made all the worse by the possibility that—with swift and decisive action—these evil and predatory individuals and gangs could have been brought to justice.

What makes this more devastating is that many people did know: heroic groups acting on behalf of victims such as PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation, formed in 1996 as the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping) brought to public attention disturbing signs of systematic grooming in towns like Oldham, Blackburn and, of course, Rotherham. Despite the progress made in the explicit criminalisation of abuse in the 2003 Sexual Offences Act, the evidence suggested this appalling trade was growing.

As the then Chair of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee I became aware of the vulnerability of children to predatory males whilst conducting an inquiry into children in care.