May considers extending abuse probe remit

By The Press Association12th March 2015News EnglandChild Abuse, Government / Politics, Inquiry, News England, Sexual Abuse

Home Secretary Theresa May will decide by the end of the month whether the inquiry into historic child sex abuse involving a Westminster paedophile ring will investigate allegations from before the 1970s.

Mrs May dissolved the original panel after two chairs were forced to stand down over their links to Establishment figures from the 1970s and 80s, appointing a new chair and re-examining the terms of reference.

A change in the terms of reference could include widening the scope to include allegations made before the 1970s.

Once the terms are finalised, along with the number of members that will sit on the panel, the inquiry will be placed on a statutory basis.

Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said this would take place before the end of March.

In response to a written parliamentary question from shadow home affairs minister Diana Johnson, Ms Featherstone said: “The independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse will assume statutory status when the Home Secretary notifies Parliament of the appointment of the chairman, the revised terms of reference for the Inquiry, and how many panel members she proposes to appoint.

“The Home Secretary will do this before the end of March.”

Mrs May set up the inquiry last July to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

Last month she appointed New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard as the inquiry’s new chair and confirmed that it would be put on a statutory footing after a series of false starts over its chairs and its non-statutory status.