Wales' First Minister says 'lessons need to be learned' over grooming gang abuse
Wales' First Minister says 'lessons need to be learned' over grooming gang abuse
The Conservative group leader in Wales said sexual exploitation of children had been 'happening right under our noses here in Wales'
Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan has said "lessons need to be learned" over the sexual exploitation of children an opposition politician claimed had been "happening right under our noses here in Wales".
Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar asked questions to the First Minister about the issue on Tuesday, June 17. He had previously raised the case of a Welsh survivor of child sexual exploitation who goes by the pseudonym Emily Vaughn. She has previously shared her story to raise awareness of the impact of abuse on victims
By the age of 20 Emily was raped more than 1,500 times after she was transported from Wales to Telford where she was sexually abused on a regular basis for six months which you can read about here.
Her story was used by the Welsh Conservatives to add weight to their calls for a Welsh-specific inquiry in a previous discussion in the Senedd. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
The Senedd voted against those calls in January but Plaid Cymru's amendment – which called for an all-Wales audit – was unanimously agreed and you can see the details of that here.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now announced an England and Wales-wide inquiry following a report from Baroness Louise Casey who led an audit into abuse and exploitation. Her report was published on Monday, June 16.
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Senedd Conservative group leader Mr Millar said the Casey report made numerous references to Wales "including exploitation of children by a gang in Wrexham and the case of a 13-year-old girl who was sexual abused by three men yet was on a child protection plan just for neglect rather than sexual exploitation".
He told the Senedd: "The evidence is clear: sexual exploitation has been happening right under our noses here in Wales and concerningly Baroness Casey also referred to more than 1,000 under-18s receiving support at sexual assault referral centres here in Wales in just 2023-24 alone and that appears to be more than twice the rate of under-18s presenting at such centres in England. That is alarming.".
Mr Millar said he had asked the Welsh Government to publish its correspondence with the police, local authorities, social services, and other stakeholders in January.
He said: "It took five weeks for the Welsh Government to issue a simple three-sentence response.
"It didn't publish the information, it issued what I regarded as a dismissive three-sentence response, and the Casey report also suggests that the Welsh Government has failed to provide information that she also requested and it warned that fear of being accused of racism has deterred authorities from acting both here in Wales and in other parts of the UK.
"So, will you guarantee, First Minister, that there will now be full co-operation with the national inquiry?"
Mrs Morgan replied: "Obviously we'll be looking at the recommendations to ensure that there is full co-operation. I have written to the home secretary to ensure that Welsh issues and any recent events as well as historic events will be investigated and analysed by this inquiry. It is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed so I think that lessons need to be learned.
"We mustn't shy away from collecting data on the ethnicity of perpetrators.
"I think that abuse is abuse and it must be condemned, irrespective of where it comes from, but what we will do is to ensure that we comply and we work with the inquiry to make sure that we do everything we can to stop this hideous approach and that the things that are happening to young girls in our community stops."
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