Oldham Council are being held to account on their promise to implement any relevant findings of the Home-Office sponsored Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) by Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani.

With the most recent report by the Inquiry covering child protection in religious organisations and settings, Councillor Al-Hamdani has written to the Council’s Managing Director of Children & Young People, and its interim Chief Executive Harry Catherall, to ask for an update on the work that has already taken place, and for what it has planned to do going forward. 

Councillor Al-Hamdani said: “The previous chief executive had confirmed that the Council would implement any relevant recommendations from the Independent Investigation, and I wanted to ensure that our incoming chief executive was fully aware of the work that has been done, but also the work that still needs to be done on this.

“While we are still waiting for the report on child exploitation in Oldham to be published, there is important work that we can and should already be doing, and it is vital that the new senior management of the Council have full awareness and oversight of it, to ensure that does progress.”

The latest report is on child protection in religious organisations and settings, with previous reports including child sexual abuse in contemporary institutional contexts, on engagement with children and young people, and on support services for ethnic minority communities in the last 12 months.

Councillor Al-Hamdani continued: “I hope that when we hear from the inquiry into historic allegations in Oldham that no-one says ‘lessons will be learnt’. It is about improving our culture and our practices, and – as we are with the implementation of these recommendations – working every day to make things better, and to rebuild confidence and trust, for survivors, and for anyone affected by these terrible crimes.”