The government’s response to Alexis Jay’s report is inadequate. Ministers must step up and show victims the effort was worthwhile
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales took seven years. Its chair, Prof Alexis Jay, was the fourth person to take up the role after three previous appointees resigned. Some survivors’ groups lost confidence in the process and decided not to participate. But 6,000 victims did contribute, along with hundreds of expert witnesses. The report into decades of child sexual abuse, and the role of multiple institutions in enabling it, was published last October.
The response to its 20 recommendations offered last week by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, was inadequate, and justifiably regarded as insulting by many of those who were involved. Interviewed by the BBC, Prof Jay described the measures announced as “vague, unspecific, without a timeline”. This inquiry was a monumental task that made huge demands on those involved – above all, the victims and survivors who testified and in many cases engaged closely with difficult questions about how to ensure such abhorrent events are not repeated.
