Question 5 — Our demands

A text response representing the ten demands published on this website:

1. The Inquiry must examine whether the ethnic and religious background of perpetrators and victims was a causal factor in the abuse, and whether race and so-called community relations played a role in the deliberate cover-up by those in authority.
2. Where the Inquiry finds evidence of negligence or deliberate cover-ups that may meet the criminal threshold, the matter must be passed to the police for investigation. The Inquiry must also proactively seek out evidence of institutional suppression.
3. All areas where there is evidence of material abuse must be investigated, including London. No local council must be able to veto a local inquiry.
4. The Chair must forward any evidence of possible criminality encountered during the Inquiry to the Police or National Crime Agency.
5. The Inquiry must examine why the judiciary used inappropriate mitigating factors to give grooming gang perpetrators shorter sentences.
6. The Inquiry must investigate organised crime and trafficking overseas, including to countries like Pakistan and Albania.
7. Survivors, their families and advocates must be closely engaged by the Inquiry. There must be clear, published processes and safeguarding for those who come forward.
8. There must be regular progress reports to Parliament and the public throughout the Inquiry.
9. The Inquiry must have the power to examine cases predating the year 2000, including large-scale networks like the Hussain network in Rotherham.
10. The Terms of Reference must include a clear working definition of 'grooming gangs', with published criteria for which cases fall within scope and how this focus will be operationalised in practice.