A report to the cabinet meeting at Birmingham City Council has revealed six open grooming gang based cases in the city.
In 2025, Birmingham Local Conservatives secured a motion calling for Birmingham to be included in the Grooming Gangs national inquiry, which has now been secured. At today’s cabinet, there was a further update on the latest cases in the city.
At today’s cabinet meeting, Cllr. Matt Bennett, the Conservative Chair of the Education and Children Services Scrutiny Committee has demanded more transparency on data around grooming gangs, including ethnicity. Leader of the Local Conservatives Cllr. Robert Alden echoed this and called on the Council and other agencies to ensure that they are following best practice on data sharing with the Police and other partners, so that no case or lead is missed.
Local Conservatives have called on the Council and partners to use the best practice put forward by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse.
Cllr. Robert Alden commented: "Child Sexual Abuse is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. It’s tragic that we had to write to the Government to ensure Birmingham’s inclusion in the grooming gangs’ inquiry in the first place.
I am concerned that the report places too much emphasis solely on the Police to be responsible in gathering data on gangs, and too little on the City Council’s ability to share and handle data, such as through social workers. We must share data between all responsible institutions to ensure that no stone is unturned and no criminal missed."
Cllr. Matt Bennett added: “Trust in the institutions that we rely on has been eroded. It’s our responsibility to ensure that the process is transparent and open to scrutiny, for the sake of victims of grooming gangs, past, present and future.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee which I chair made six recommendations, in short, aiming to increase transparency, safeguarding and ensuring that survivors are listened to without fear.”
Conservatives have also asked for assurances that all files, including archived paper files, data on former systems and externally stored records are being preserved, and if any gaps or losses in information have been identified for use by the inquiry. This follows a successful Conservatives motion in June 2025 that called on the council to preserve evidence ahead of any inquiry, 15 months ahead of Birmingham's official inclusion and the legal order to retain records.
Robert pressed the Police to share details with the Council about the six ongoing cases, including for clarity on the many perpetrators and victims each case involves, and what is being done in each case.
Cllr Alden cautioned the Council against accepting any reported drops in grooming gang cases at face value due to the long-reported issues with cases not being identified, and that data should be challenged to ensure that cases are not being missed.
Since May, Local Conservatives have written to the government, securing Birmingham’s inclusion in the Grooming Gangs investigation, as well as to the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel Chair, asking for the panel to ensure transparency in data from the Police.
