Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Grooming Gangs

Thursday 4 September 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Mr Andrew Snowden questioned the Minister about the effectiveness of the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and courts working together to prioritize listing cases involving rape and serious sexual assault.
  • Bob Blackman raised concerns about whistleblowers in local authorities being sacked under non-disclosure agreements and asked what advice the Crown Prosecution Service is providing to address this.
  • The Minister mentioned that the government is working to implement mandatory reporting duties for those working with children through the Crime and Policing Bill.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Snowden Con Fylde
Justice & Courts
Context

From Mr Snowden's time as Lancashire’s police commissioner, he observed the importance of inter-agency cooperation in prioritizing listings for cases involving rape and serious sexual assault.

Question

From my time as Lancashire’s police commissioner, I have seen the fruits when the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts worked together to prioritise the listing of cases involving rape and serious sexual assault, as we know that victims and witnesses are less likely to continue with a prosecution the longer it continues. Can the Solicitor General update us on the work being done to ensure that those agencies work together to support the victims and prioritise those case listings?

Answer from The Solicitor General

As the hon. Gentleman will know, listing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, I can tell him that certain areas have pilot schemes of weekly listing meetings across criminal justice partners to ensure—as he says—that we lessen victim attrition, which is unfortunately far too high as a result of the record court backlog.

Partly answered
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Q2 Bob Blackman Con Harrow East
Justice & Courts Safeguarding & DBS
Context

Bob Blackman highlights the issue of whistleblowers being sacked under non-disclosure agreements, preventing transparency about the truth behind terrible crimes against young girls.

Question

I welcome the fact that the backlog of those cases will be examined again, and that historical cases will be looked at, but one of the challenges is that whistleblowers in local authorities were sacked under non-disclosure agreements. What advice is the Crown Prosecution Service providing to ensure that those NDAs are removed so that we can get to the truth of what happened with those terrible crimes against young girls?

Answer from The Solicitor General

The hon. Gentleman refers to a very important issue, which is why I am pleased to tell him that through our flagship Crime and Policing Bill we are working to implement the key recommendations from the Jay review, one of which is including long-overdue mandatory reporting duties for those working with children. It also includes making grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing and crucial changes to address safeguarding loopholes.

Partly answered

Not addressed: NDAs specifically not addressed

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