Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England said:
“It is deeply worrying that the Met Police has not yet got to grips with the way it tackles child abuse and sexual exploitation. Its delay in doing so will have blighted the lives of many thousands of London’s children whose abuse has gone undetected by the authorities tasked with protecting them.
“It is heartening that there are many dedicated individual officers working to protect children in London from harm but the apparent systemic failure to do so is concerning. It is over five years since the disturbing reports of Jimmy Savile’s abuse and the horrific sexual exploitation of children in Rochdale broke, over one and a half years since the police themselves identified tackling child abuse as a national priority and a year since my own report identified that the majority of child victims of sexual abuse are not known to authorities. The Met’s inaction is unacceptable – HMIC’s recommendations must be acted upon urgently to prevent further children coming to harm.”