we have the third report last year on operation span, commissioned by the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, exposing failings by the crown prosecution service, which are extremely serious. this all needs to be looked into. so will the home secretary commission that national statutory public inquiry, which can compel witnesses to attend, that can requisition evidence , that can requisition evidence, and where it can take evidence

under oath? and if the government will not order that statutory national public inquiry, we will table an amendment to the children wellbeing bill later this week to put the matter to a vote, and ihope to put the matter to a vote, and i hope members across the house will vote for that full statutory public inquiry so we can get to the truth. home secretary james. >> zero, dear. we're just to say to the shadow home secretary , to the shadow home secretary, this is an issue in which when i was the shadow home secretary, when i was the chair of the home affairs select committee, i worked with government ministers on, and in which there has been cross—party consensus on the need to tackle these very serious and vile crimes. this is the most appalling crimes against children. the brutal rape, repeated multiple rapes of children, particularly young

girls, but also young boys in the most appalling of circumstances and the abuse of trust for those children. often it be people who should have protected them, who should have looked after them, and where institutions failed to keep them safe. that is why the independent inquiry was so important. it's why i called for it. it's where many other people in this house, across this house, called for it, and it's why we supported it. when the previous government set it up. but the truth is, there just has not been enough action to tackle these vile crimes. there hasn't been enough change to policies, to the way in which services operate at local level. and that is a deep failing that those changes have not taken place. he used the example of the duty to report. this is incredibly important because it is about preventing any chance of people turning a blind eye of professionals, turning a blind eye to abuse of people covering

up child abuse and exploitation in the most appalling way. it's about making it a criminal offence. and yet we called for it ten years ago. he had a decade in order to introduce that, a decade that we have now lost without having those powers and those measures in place. he rightly talks about the task force. i mentioned that in my response, and we have supported not just continuing with that task force, but actually accelerating its work. so it has increased. the last quarter of arrests have increased on the previous quarter, a significant increase in arrests, because the thing i want to see most of all is i want to see perpetrators behind bars. i want to see perpetrators pay the price for the vile crimes against children. and in order to do that, we have to improve policing performance and the coordinated work between police and local councils across the country in order to do this. so yes, we will accelerate the work of the task force. but he refers

to the ethnicity data. it has already been published. it was published in november. the latest report was published in november by. as a result of the work of the task force. i would just say to him, though i do not think that the data that they have gathered actually is adequate, i do not think it goes far enough. i think it's there's a real problem with the way in which we collect data and police forces collect data. it's very haphazard. there isn't a proper system for collecting data, for having proper performance framework for policing, because again, to be honest, i think his government withdrew too far from policing and having the kind of standards we need to have in place, i hope we can work together on having a stronger performance framework, having a clearer framework of data, including dealing with these issues around ethnicity and the issue. back in 2015, we had the consensus on the need to make sure that race and ethnicity are never used as an excuse not to tackle crime, that somehow the

fact that vulnerable girls supposedly consented when they did not is used as an excuse not to tackle crime. we can never accept those excuses. i hope that we will have agreement between us on how we do that. and in terms of inquiries, i would just say to him his party launched the child abuse inquiry. they set the terms of reference. they provided the substantial funding for it, and he could have raised concerns about its terms of reference, about its terms of reference, about the scope of it, about the extent of its reports at any point, including at any point since it reported, and he didn't do so until last week. i hope he will support now the work that oldham is determined to take forward, the work that we can hopefully see replicated from telford. the telford inquiry was a really important one and i hope, too, that he is prepared to work with the victims and survivors panel, which will help us take forward exactly the

kinds of further investigations, reviews and inquiries that should take place both at local level and across the country in order to make sure we protect child victims. >> select committee chair debbie abrahams thank you, madam deputy speaken abrahams thank you, madam deputy speaker, and i welcome my right hon. friend's statement. child sexual exploitation and abuse is a heinous crime. it happens everywhere, in all communities, in all settings, all settings, and we must all be vigilant and do what we can to address that. my do what we can to address that. my right hon. friend mentioned the importance of ensuring that victims of csa are at the heart of all that we do, and i support it wholeheartedly with that. and if it is the will of these victims of abuse in oldham, to have an additional review of the circumstances which led to the abuse, then i will also be

wholeheartedly supporting that. but can my right hon. friend expand on how we can transparently track progress with the completion dates set for the recommendations? it can't be allowed that we have the detailed recommendations from a national independent inquiry, and three years later, we're still waiting for them to be. >> my hon. friend makes a really important point. i know she has worked immensely hard. >> well, there you go. our home secretary talking very tough indeed when it comes to the horrendous grooming torture, abuse gangs that have run rife seemingly across this country for so, so many years. how do you feel when you watch and listen to that? do you feel reassured? are you someone that's a victim of this horrendous abuse, a survivor of this horrendous abuse of one of your loved ones affected by

this? do you sit there and feel reassured as you join me? michelle dewberry here on dewbs& co tonight? are you positive about what you've just heard from our government or not? do you just think more? more words, more tough talk? what we need is more tough talk? what we need is more and more action. there were many promises just made there from the home secretary will look at some of those and see whether or not we have faith into whether or not we think some of those things will come into fruition and, crucially, make a difference alongside me. for the next hour, i've got my panel for the next hour, i've got my panel. ben habib, the former deputy leader of reform uk, and scarlett mccgwire, the former labour adviser. good evening to both of you. but crucially, good evening to each and every single one of you at home and happy new yeah one of you at home and happy new year. it's good to be back. i want to involve you very much in the conversation that we are having tonight, and you can get in touch with me all the usual ways. you can email gb views @gbnews. com you can tweet or text me @gbnews. or of course you can go to the website

gbnews.com/yoursay. let me start with you, ben habib. we've just been listening intently to the conversation in the commons there. what do you make to it? >> so if i can start with what she didn't say, what she didn't say and what she was reluctant to concede was an inquiry. and what she didn't say was that the people that turned a blind eye already to this, of which we are abundantly aware now as a result of excerpts from various court cases, that they would be held to account. and the reason she didn't say that is because if you look back and you follow the trajectory of this abhorrent series of crimes that has taken place across the united kingdom, what you place across the un