Update on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Councillor Peter Williams

This week the first Rochdale-related public hearing into the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is being held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The hearing on Wednesday 16 March is the first public hearing after an announcement in November last year that IICSA was launching 12 investigations into historic abuse, including one that is looking at former institutions in Rochdale.

The national inquiry, led by Dame Lowell Goddard, is examining allegations of abuse at Knowl View school, which closed in the 1990s, and Cambridge House, a former boys' hostel in Rochdale.

Last night (14 March) the council’s cabinet committee was given an update on the Inquiry and asked to consider whether it was appropriate to continue the council’s Garnham review, which covers historic allegations of child sexual abuse but was suspended in July 2014 at the request of Greater Manchester Police (GMP). As IICSA now encompasses the terms of reference for the Garnham review, it will now be discontinued.

Councillor Peter Williams, deputy leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Rochdale Borough Council is giving its full support to the Goddard Inquiry. Since 2012 we have worked alongside the police and other agencies to create what is now a nationally-recognised multi-agency team that investigates and prevents CSE, and protects victims and potential victims.

“The council has decided not to pursue its own review in view of the ongoing police investigation, but particularly because the Goddard Inquiry will cover the same ground as the one commissioned by the council but with much stronger powers to require witnesses to give evidence and to tackle the relevant issues. We have consulted with Mr Justice Garnham (formerly Neil Garnham QC), who has confirmed that the decision is entirely for the council to make.”

The IICSA investigations follow a number of other reviews and reports into child sexual abuse in Rochdale. Since 2012 the council has overhauled its children's services and its work to protect victims and potential victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation is nationally-recognised. In 2014 Ofsted said Rochdale 'had totally transformed the landscape of how it deals with CSE'.