The author of the major review into grooming gangs which found authorities have "shied away" from the ethnicity of sex offenders will face questions from MPs.
Baroness Louise Casey will appear before the Commons Home Affairs Committee this morning, after the government set out plans to launch a new nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs following her rapid review of the scandal.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed officials have dodged the issue of ethnicity among the groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, even though available data showed suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Cooper said "much more robust national data is needed" on the ethnicity of offenders, adding that the authorities "cannot and must not shy away from these findings".
Baroness Casey鈥檚 report found that: "The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more. Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years."
It added: "We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data."