00:00Birmingham is now one of the areas being examined by the Statutory National Inquiry into grooming gangs.
00:07The inquiry will look at child sexual exploitation in the city and how organisations responsible for protecting children responded.
00:15A Birmingham City Council scrutiny report says there are 98 active child sexual exploitation investigations, including six assessed as group
00:25based.
00:25It also says 143 children are known to Birmingham Children's Trust if they are at risk of or experiencing sexual
00:34exploitation.
00:35The report says children going missing repeatedly can be an important warning sign for exploitation.
00:41Birmingham has faced scrutiny over this issue before and the National Inquiry has been set up to examine possible failures
00:49by organisations responsible for safeguarding children.
00:52Its terms of reference allow it to consider missed opportunities, the response to victims and survivors, and whether ethnicity, religion
01:01or culture affected how cases were handled.
01:04The inquiry has statutory powers, which means it can require organisations to provide evidence and summon witnesses where necessary.
01:12Birmingham was selected as one of the local areas for investigation after the inquiry considered factors including victim and survivor
01:19experience.
01:20evidence of prevalence, harm and risk.
01:23The inquiry will now ask whether agencies acted properly and what lessons must be learned.
