Anne Longfield

Anne Longfield is the former children's commissioner for England. She is newsworthy because she has been appointed to chair the national inquiry into grooming gangs. This appointment follows a delayed search and some resignations from the inquiry's advisory panel. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced Longfield's appointment, calling it a "moment of reckoning." Longfield will resign the Labour whip in the House of Lords to take on this role. The inquiry's terms of reference, which include examining the influence of ethnicity, culture, and religion on offending and institutional responses, will be presented to Parliament on April 13th, after which the full investigation will commence. Her leadership is significant as the inquiry aims to address group-based sexual exploitation and its underlying factors.