Rotherham MP calls for faster compensation for grooming gang victims
She's been speaking in Parliament after the announcement of an inquiry into the issue
After the announcement of a national inquiry into grooming gangs there are calls from a South Yorkshire for victims of the crime to have easier access to compensation.
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion accused the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority of denying victims of grooming gangs compensation on "bizarre technicalities" and called for the body to be abolished.
Welcoming the Government's announcement on grooming gangs, the Labour MP said: "The victims and survivors of grooming gangs are being denied compensation by the criminal injuries agency on bizarre technicalities.
"They also deny all children of online abuse compensation. For me, this is a grave injustice, and they think they're better than the judge and jury.
"So I wonder what the Deputy Prime Minister plans to do, because personally, I think they should be abolished."
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, set up in 1996, administers compensation for victims of violent crime across England.
Responding, Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: "We share her determination to do what is right for the victims and the survivors, and we recognise that no sum of money can ever fully compensate for the horrors that they've experienced."
"We are committed to funding efforts to tackle child sexual abuse in the future and support survivors to rebuilding their lives.
"And that's why we make it easier for victims to make personal injury claims through the civil courts by removing the three-year time limit, and we're redoubling funding for therapeutic support services."
The government confirmed an inquiry into grooming gangs would take place earlier this week, following the publication of a report penned by Baroness Casey.
It found the ethnicity of perpetrators had been "shied away from", with data not recorded for two-thirds of offenders.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that officials had dodged the issue of ethnicity among groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, and called for "much more robust national data".