MPs are to investigate the sexual exploitation of children, after an expert warned abuse was taking place “all over the country”.
It was time to “lay aside denial” about child abuse, MPs were told
England’s Deputy Children’s Commissioner Sue Berelowitz said girls as young as 11 were being expected to perform sex acts on “line-ups of boys”.
It was quite common for girls to be lured in by internet chat rooms and raped, she added.
The Commons Home Affairs Committee promised an inquiry into the claims.
It had already been investigating the child protection failings seen in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where nine Asian men were convicted last month of sexually abusing white girls in the area. They had plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs.
But Ms Berelowitz said all communities and ethnic groups were affected by sexual abuse, citing cases in Derby, Rotherham, Birmingham and Dewsbury that she had heard about during her research for a report due out in September.
The committee’s chairman, Labour MP Keith Vaz, said that, given this evidence, its investigation should be widened to look at the national picture.
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