National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: terms of reference
Published 20 February 2025
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1. Purpose
1.1. The overall purpose of this national audit is to evaluate our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) at a national and local level.
1.2. The audit will review existing data and evidence, aiming to uncover the nature, scale and profile of group based CSEA offending in addition to uncovering gaps in current knowledge and understanding of these crimes and their characteristics. It will seek to establish a comprehensive picture of what is known at local and national levels and develop recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve data on group-based child sexual exploitation across the police and partner agencies. This in turn will support further work to tackle this offending and improve our response, including highlighting potential areas for scrutiny by, inter alia, future locally led and commissioned inquiries.
2. Aims and objectives
This audit will seek to:
2.1. Build a national picture of what is known about current group-based child sexual exploitation, to identify local and national trends, to assess the quality of data available and review police understanding of this crime.
2.2. Review data linked to group-based CSE in other relevant partner agencies (this could include, for example, criminal justice agencies, local authority services, and multi-agency partnerships).
2.3. Provide an assessment of what is known about the demographics of grooming gangs and their victims, including ethnicity.
2.4. Conduct a review into the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending and the motivations and characteristics of grooming gang offending, to provide an evidence-base for prevention, early intervention and disruption.
3. Context
3.1. It is the government’s priority to tackle the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, secure truth and justice for victims and survivors of these crimes, ensure perpetrators are identified and face the full force of the law, and protect children and young people now and in the future. The government is committed to taking further action to address the historic and ongoing crimes of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation, of the kind that have taken place in Rochdale, Rotherham, Telford, Walsall, Oldham and Oxfordshire.
3.2. This audit fulfils part of government’s commitment to fixing gaps in the data on child sexual exploitation and abuse, including on the ethnicity of perpetrators. These gaps are highlighted by recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, in both its investigation into Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks (Feb 2022) and its Final Report (Oct 2022).
4. Scope
4.1. The audit will consider a range of evidence including, but not limited to:
4.1.1. Data held by the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce.
4.1.2. Other data sources which the independent reviewer deems relevant, which could include, for example, National Referral Mechanism data, other police and criminal justice partner data sources, and data held by local partners and multi-agency partnerships.
4.2. The audit will only cover group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse based in England and Wales.
5. Governance
5.1. This audit will be overseen by Baroness Louise Casey. Baroness Casey will act independently. Her report findings will be delivered to the Home Secretary and Prime Minister, as commissioners of this independent work.
5.2. Baroness Casey will draw on sources of expertise as she sees fit through the course of the review. This may include (but is not limited to) academic experts, civil servants, police officers, victim and survivor representatives, independent experts.
6. Report and timings
6.1. The audit will conclude within three months of commencement and Baroness Casey will submit a written report.
6.2. The report will detail the evidence and findings across the areas detailed at section 2 and provide recommendations on what further local, regional or national work may be necessary. The report will be made publicly available by the Home Secretary in due course.