Andy Burnham gives date for Oldham child sexual exploitation report

Speaking at a Q&A event at Oldham Library on Wednesday night, Mr Burnham announced that the CSE report would be published on the week beginning January 24.

The report was originally commissioned in November 2019 and has been delayed in large part due to the pandemic and an unforeseen issue that arose which needed Queen's Counsel advice.

Mr Burnham said: "We'd wanted to get it out this month but at the same time, given the nature of what's in it, we can't cut across due process.

"We can't publish a report that factually won't stand scrutiny."

The mayor explained that victims specifically ask for such reports to not be released in December as it is in the run up to Christmas.

Mr Burnham said: "Often, the call from victims is that it's not published at that time with Christmas coming."

The report has been carried out by the same team that conducted the investigation into the Rotherham CSE scandal, with Mr Burnham saying no one in Rotherham would "accuse them of pulling their punches".

The Mayor also admitted that "we're not where we need to be" when it came to tackling the issue of CSE but said that things were now moving in the right direction.

Mr Burnham said: "As we find out about things that are still not being done right, we are challenging the system and that is how we get the improvement that we need."

The review will examine evidence going back to 2006 and the look into the historical allegations of CSE in Oldham and whether the council and it partners delivered the appropriate response to children.

Mr Burnham promised that once the report was released, the results would be acted on.

He said: "As we said with [Operation] Augusta, every aspect of it will be followed up properly."

Operation Augusta, which looked at the handling of CSE cases by police and social services in South Manchester, revealed the widespread failure of police and the services to protect children.