UK child abuse inquiry: '1 in 20 children could have been abused'

There are suggestions that "one child in every 20 children in England and Wales has been sexually abused", according to the New Zealand judge who opened the UK's largest and most ambitious public inquiry ever established today, revealing it could last until 2020.

The inquiry into historic abuse was opened by New Zealand High Court Judge Lowell Goddard, a former solicitor-general in her home country. She was appointed in March by the Home Secretary Theresa May after a string of controversies surrounding the appointments of her predecessors, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, who both stepped down after accusations they were too close to establishment figures.

The inquiry follows claims of a high-level cover-up of historical child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians and celebrities, and will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse.

The inquiry was given statutory powers and a new advisory panel in February. Survivors of abuse will not be able to sit on her advisory panel, something that has infuriated campaigners, but there will be a separate Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel.

The advisory panel comprises Prof Alexis Jay of Strathclyde University, Drusilla Sharpling of the police inspectorate, Prof Malcolm Evans of Bristol University, and child protection barrister Ivor Frank.

"The task ahead of us is daunting," said Goddard in her opening remarks. "The sexual abuse of children over successive generations has left permanent scars, not only on the victims themselves but on society as a whole."

"This inquiry provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children, to confront those responsible, to uncover systemic failures, to provide support to victims and survivors, in sharing their experiences, and to make recommendations that will help prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the future," Goddard continued.

Goddard said that as much information would be put into the public domain as possible, and an annual report would be published each year. The Home Office has provided a budget of £17m (€24m) for the running of the inquiry.

All areas of public life will come under the scrutiny of the inquiry, including churches and religious communities; children's homes, schools, the police, courts and legal establishment, the armed services, and institutions such as the NHS and the BBC, charities and adoption services and celebrities and politicians. New information that comes to light during the course of the inquiry which might implicate abusers will be passed to Operation Hydrant - the national police unit coordinating several investigations into past abuse allegations.

No one can be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for passing on information to the inquiry and investigators will have access to MI5, GCHQ and other intelligence files.