The Government has announced that Professor Alexis Jay OBE, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, is to chair the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in succession to Dame Lowell Goddard.

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 thirty years in local government, most recently as a Director of Social Services. She was Chief Inspector of Social Work in Scotland until 2011, then Chief Social Work Adviser to the Scottish Government. She is a former President of the Association of Directors of Social Work a trustee of the Royal Voluntary Service and Chair of the Life Changes Trust in Scotland.

The appointment was welcomed by the Church of England in a statement from Bishop of Bath and Wells, Peter Hancock, the CofE’s lead bishop on safeguarding:

“We welcome the news today of the appointment of Professor Alexis Jay as the new chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and her public commitment to continue the important work it has done so far in hearing the voices of survivors and looking at institutional failings.

The Archbishop of Canterbury requested that the Church be one of the first institutions to be considered in the work of the inquiry and we will continue to work in a constructive and transparent manner with IICSA under Professor Jay’s leadership. “