SIR – At the end of last year the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse announced its first areas of investigation.

These will look at whether institutions have taken seriously their duty to protect children from sexual abuse and what can be done to protect children in the future.

One of these will involve an inquiry into institutional responses to the sexual exploitation of children by organised networks. Given the reference in the scope of the investigation to the city of Oxford, it may have particular significance for your readers.

The challenge for the inquiry is immense. The experiences of victims and survivors already shared with us are a stark reminder of how devastating child sexual abuse is. Unfortunately these cases are not the exceptions. We come across them on a daily basis.

The inquiry’s Truth Project enables victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to contribute to the work of the inquiry through sharing their experiences in a private session with a member of the inquiry, or through a statement.

As the inquiry’s Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel, we know the work of the inquiry starts with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Anyone can find out more about the inquiry’s investigation, or how to contact the inquiry as a victim or survivor of child sexual abuse via our website, www.iicsa.org.uk. We hope the inquiry will mark the beginning of the end to institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse.

Sheila Coates MBE
Lucy Duckworth
Fay Maxted OBE
Michael May
Peter Saunders FRSA
Chris Tuck
Daniel Wolstencroft
Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse