Tim Dieppe explains how the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs is not confronting the role of Islam in the scandal. This piece was originally published in The Conservative Woman
Last month, details of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs were finally published by the government. This included draft terms of reference which determine what it can and cannot consider. They are very carefully worded and agreed.
There has been a lot of discussion about the role of religion in grooming gang abuse. Late last year, Christian Concern published a report by internationally respected academic Dr Mark Durie, an Australian Anglican priest and a scholar in linguistics and theology, into UK grooming gangs and Islam. He outlines eight aspects of Islamic law and theology that influence and enable grooming gang criminality. These are:
1. The doctrine of the superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims.
2. The doctrine of loyalty and disavowal, also known as ‘love and hate for the sake of God’.
3. The superiority and dominance of men over women.
4. The mandated seclusion of women by men.
5. The religious practice of forced marriage, and the lack of a concept of an age of consent.
6. The perceived threat of dangerous female sexuality.
7. The practice of sex slavery as an aspect of the laws of jihad.
8. Dhimmitude and the treatment of conquered non-Muslim peoples in Islamic law.
The report concludes with 11 policy recommendations to tackle the Islamic nature of these grooming gangs.
Although the Prime Minister has said that the inquiry will ‘leave no stone unturned’ in its investigations, the draft terms of reference exclude looking at the role of religion in the abuse. This despite the many expert witnesses who have insisted that the role of religion and culture should be part of its remit.
The draft terms of reference make no reference to Islam or to Muslims at all. There are just three references to ‘religion’. It is very telling what they say.
Paragraph 4.3 is the key paragraph containing two of the references to ‘religion’. Here is what it says:
‘The inquiry should examine how ethnicity, religion or culture played a role in responses at a local and national level, as well as other issues of denial, as discussed in the National Audit. It will also consider the background (including ethnicity, religion and culture) of perpetrators and victims.’
Notice that it says the inquiry should consider how ‘ethnicity role of culture played a role in responses’ [emphasis added]. The inquiry is only to consider the role of religion in responses to the abuse, not the role of religion in facilitating or enabling the abuse itself! It goes on to say that it will consider the background ‘including ethnicity, religion and culture’ of the perpetrators and victims. Again this does not consider the role of religion in the abuse itself.
The other mention of ‘religion’ occurs in paragraph 4.5.2 which lists various things ‘the inquiry may consider’. These include ‘whether ethnicity, religion or culture played a role in the response’.
Note again that there is no consideration of the role of religion in the actual abuse itself. If the role of religion in the abuse is not mentioned in the terms of reference, then the inquiry will certainly not consider it. The draft terms of reference have been worded so that the government can say that ‘the inquiry will consider the role of religion’, but nevertheless the inquiry will not look at the role of religion in the abuse itself.
Lord Pearson asked a written parliamentary question about this. It reads:
‘To ask His Majesty’s Government whether the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs will consider the role that religion or culture played in enabling or facilitating abuse by grooming gangs, and not only the role that those factors played in responses to the abuse, as outlined in paragraph 4.3 of the draft terms of reference.’
Lord Hanson of Flint responded for the government as follows:
‘On 9 December 2025, the Home Secretary published the draft Terms of Reference for the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and asked the Chair to consult on them.
‘Following the consultation, the Chair will make recommendations to the Home Secretary. Final Terms of Reference will be agreed and published by 31 March 2026. The Home Secretary has been clear (in her Oral Statement of 9 December) that the inquiry will consider, explicitly, the background of offenders – including their ethnicity, religion and culture – and whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what happened out of a misplaced desire to protect community cohesion. The inquiry will act without fear or favour, identifying individual, institutional and systemic failure, inadequate organisational responses, and failures of leadership.
‘The Home Secretary has also commissioned new research from UK Research and Innovation to address longstanding gaps in our understanding of perpetrators’ backgrounds and motivations, including factors such as ethnicity and religion.’
This response is a tacit admission that the draft terms of reference do not include considering the role of religion in the abuse. Notice the emphasis on: ‘whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what happened out of a misplaced desire to protect community cohesion’.
This is an important aspect, and I am pleased that it will be considered, but it does not include the role of religion in the abuse itself.
Lord Hanson, as if to excuse this omission from the draft terms of reference, goes on to say that the government has commissioned research into ’our understanding of the perpetrator’s backgrounds and motivations, including factor such as ethnicity and religion’. Now that is precisely what we want to see in the inquiry. But it is not there. Instead, research has been commissioned separately on this point. This research was originally mentioned within the government’s announcement of Baroness Longfield as chair of the Independent Inquiry last year.
It seems then that the government deliberately wants to keep the role of religion in motivating grooming gang abuse out of the scope of the inquiry. To stave off criticism on this point, it has commissioned separate research into this question. But research is not the same as an inquiry. It will not have the powers of an inquiry. We have no details about who is carrying out this research or what resources they have or when the research is expected to be published. Indeed, the government has not promised that this research will ever be published. It may well not be published at all.
When the government announced the details of the inquiry in December, it promised to consult on the draft terms of reference. It said:
‘As the inquiry is required to finalise the terms of reference by 31 March 2026, the consultation period will be focused and time limited. Further details on how to take part will be shared by the inquiry in early February 2026.’
It is now early February. We will watch with interest for details of the promised consultation. When we have them, we will encourage supporters to respond to the consultation and to insist that the role of religion in motivating and encouraging the criminal abuse of grooming gangs is included in the final terms of reference of the inquiry.
The victims deserve a proper inquiry which will consider all aspects of the horrific grooming gang abuse that has been going on for decades. The role of religion cannot be sidelined. I hope that the final terms of reference make this clear.
