The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris scandals, has published its final report. Commissioned by then home secretary Theresa May in 2014, the inquiry has spent seven years examining how state and private institutions failed to protect the children in their care from sexual abuse.
The investigations that fed into the final report spanned a wide range of organisations. These included child protection services at local authority level, religious institutions, hostels and residential schools.
Among its 20 recommendations, the report calls for the government to establish a child protection authority for England and Wales and a cabinet minister for children. It also highlights the need for specific support, compensation and redress, emphasising that no statute of limitation be placed on people, who have experienced child sexual abuse, coming forward.
