Agenda

Extraordinary, Council - Wednesday, 12th February, 2025 6.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1NL

Contact: Peter Thompson 

Items
No. Item

1.

To receive apologies for absence

2.

To receive declarations of interest in any matter to be determined at the meeting

3.

Request for a National Public Inquiry that Investigates the Scourge of Child Sexual Exploitation' pdf icon PDF 105 KB

Motion to be moved by Councillor Quigg and seconded by Councillor Arnott:

We humbly request that this Council call upon His Majesty’s Government to initiate a national public inquiry that investigates the scourge of child sexual exploitation by rape gangs both historic and current in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham but also across the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

We request that a full national public inquiry is held urgently, as villages, towns and cities up and down the spine of the country have been affected by child sexual exploitation which was carried out by evil rape gangs on an unprecedented scale.

 

This Council notes that:

 

  1. The employment by Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council of the ringleader of the Rochdale rape gang which was stated in the 2022 Assurance review quote: “Offender A worked for Oldham Council between 1988 and 2006. He was employed as a welfare rights officer in the welfare rights unit of the council seconded to the Oldham Pakistani Community Centre. In May 2012 he was found guilty of two rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment. In June 2012 he was found guilty of a further 30 rape charges and was jailed for an additional 22 years. Offender A lived in Oldham and was a member of the Oldham Labour Party. We believe there were serious failings in how both the council and Greater Manchester Police investigated concerns in respect of Offender A.”
  2. That this Council voted down multiple requests from 2020 to 2024 for inquiries of different kinds until it agreed to hold a non-statutory local inquiry in July 2024 following the Council falling into no overall control.
  3. That no Council officers who worked or currently work at Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council have been disciplined or lost their job for professional failures in protecting children from rape gangs and child sexual exploitation to date.
  4. That at the reconvened Council meeting on the 20th January 2025 that the Chairman of the Council meeting sanctioned a Conservative Councillor and asked her to withdraw her remarks for using the term “Pakistani heritage rape gangs” when asking if the Council Leader would support a national inquiry.
  5. Notes the comments made by the Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon, Yvette Cooper MP, which is noted in Hansard quote; “Ten years ago, two reports by Alexis Jay and Louise Casey in Rotherham found that 1,400 children had been sexually exploited, raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked across other towns, abducted, beaten and threatened with guns. Children had even been doused in petrol. Girls as young as 11 had been raped. Those reports a decade ago identified a failure to confront Pakistani heritage gangs and a “widespread perception” that they should “‘downplay’ the ethnic dimensions” for fear of being seen to be racist. When those reports came out, those failings in Rotherham were condemned across the board by both Government and Opposition in this House.  ...  view the full agenda text for item 3.

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