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Kemi Badenoch welcomes Birmingham's inclusion in grooming gangs inquiry
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has expressed support for the inclusion of Birmingham in the national Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, stating a desire for swift justice for victims. The inquiry's expansion follows figures from Birmingham Children's Trust showing active investigations into child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases in the city, while discussions also highlighted West Midlands Police only recently starting to routinely record the ethnicity of CSE offenders.
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- Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the inclusion of Birmingham and Wales in the national grooming gangs inquiry.
- The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs expanded its focus to examine CSE prevalence alongside victim and survivor experiences.
- Birmingham Children's Trust figures indicated police were investigating 98 CSE cases in Birmingham, with former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips suggesting actual figures could be higher.
- West Midlands Police revealed at a city council meeting that they had only begun routinely recording the ethnicity of CSE offenders within the past 12 months.
- Badenoch emphasised the importance of capturing offender ethnicity data to help prevent crimes in closed communities from remaining hidden.