Home Secretary, Theresa May has announced that the head of childrens charity NSPCC is to head a review of 20 years of child sex abuse allegations,for the period 1979-1999.
Peter Wanless's , head of NSPCC is to be assisted by a senior legal figure and will include in the review how police and prosecutors handled information given to them.The report is expected in 10 weeks time.
An inquiry led by an independent panel of experts in law and child protection will also be held. This will be a very broad inquiry and is not expected to report before the next election. Mrs May commented that the panel inquiry could be converted into a full public inquiry if required. She said;
"Our priority must be the prosecution of the people behind these disgusting crimes,"
May outlined how the probes were prompted by concerns that in past decades public bodies have not taken their duties towards children as seriously as they should have and that in the 1980s the Home Office failed to act when allegations of child sex abuse were raised.
Witnesses in the inquiry should be able to "speak freely", however May noted that she would have to consider the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act in some cases.
The Home Secretary’s statement comes as ex-Home Secretary Leon Brittan defended his dealings with a dossier on alleged child sex abuse handed to him by the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980s.
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