Professor Alexis Jay appointed chairwoman of sex abuse inquiry

Professor Alexis Jay OBE

Professor Alexis Jay OBE has been appointed the Chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse with immediate effect.

Professor Jay becomes the fourth to chair the inquiry after Dame Lowell Goddard recently stood down.

The inquiry is focused, in part, on allegations that boys who attended or resided at Cambridge House Boys’ Hostel and Knowl View School in Rochdale were subject to sexual abuse by specific individuals, including by former Liberal Party MP Cyril Smith.

In a message to everyone involved with the work of the Inquiry in particular victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, Professor Jay said: "I am committed to ensuring this Inquiry does everything it has set out to do and does so with pace, with confidence and with clarity.

"Be in no doubt - the Inquiry is open for business and people are busier than ever working hard to increase momentum. The Panel and I are determined to make progress on all parts of the Inquiry's work, including speaking to victims and survivors.

"I am determined to overcome the challenges along the way. I will lead the largest public inquiry of its kind and together with my fellow Panel members we will fearlessly examine institutional failures, past and present and make recommendations so that the children of England and Wales are better protected now and in the future.”

Professor Jay is a visiting Professor at Strathclyde University, where she chairs the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland. She worked for over 30 years in social work, working with vulnerable families in deprived communities.

In 2005 Professor Jay was invited by the Scottish Government to set up the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) – a government agency to inspect all aspects of social services provided by Local Authorities. In this role, she was Chief Executive and Chief Inspector of Social Work for Scotland. After the SWIA was merged into the Care Inspectorate in 2011, she took up the newly created post of Chief Social Work Adviser to Scottish Ministers.

In 2014, Professor Jay led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, an investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham in South Yorkshire. Her initial report, published in August 2014, identified that at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

She is also Chairwoman of the Life Changes Trust, which seeks to improve the lives of young care leavers and people with dementia, and of the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS), a government-funded centre based in the University of Strathclyde which carries out research and improvement activity within the children's sector in Scotland.

Professor Jay was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in November 2015.