Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of “stonewalling” questions about whether London has a problem with so-called “grooming gangs”.His Tory rival Susan Hall made nine successive attempts at Mayor’s Question Time to ask Sir Sadiq whether there were gangs operating, or previously active, in the capital.But Sir Sadiq repeatedly asked Ms Hall, the former Tory mayoral candidate, to clarify what she meant by grooming gangs, claiming: “I’m not clear what she means.”
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00:00Exactly how much clearer do you want me to be? So I asked you this question last
00:05week and you found every which way but not to answer it. Just how many grooming
00:11gangs have we got in London? So the situation in London in relation to young
00:17people being groomed is different to the parts of the country. So we have in
00:21London is young people being groomed, use your words not mine, to be
00:25used in county lines in relation to sometimes... Okay let me make it clear, sorry
00:30I wasn't clear enough. I was told I shouldn't be saying rape gangs. They are
00:34rape gangs. I'm talking about rape gangs. I'm not talking about country lines. But
00:38to go back, nobody likes me saying rape gangs although they are rape gangs.
00:43Grooming gangs that I would call rape gangs. Tell me about them. How many of
00:47those have we got? Not country lines, those particular groups. To avoid any
00:53misunderstanding, can she define what she means by that? Yes, if you look at
00:57what's gone on in Rotherham where there are people taking young girls, grooming
01:02them for sex. That is what I'm talking about. Well we know in London there are
01:09issues about exploitation of young people but they're not as defined by the
01:13Member in her definition of what those types of gangs are. So are you saying we
01:18haven't got the same sort of gangs that are in Rotherham, Bradford and lots of
01:22other places in the country? What does she mean by that? You know full well what I
01:29mean by that. It's all over the television. You know exactly what I mean
01:32by that. These gangs of people that are grooming young girls for sex. Do we
01:39actually have those in London? Today we need to give a full answer. Can she be
01:44clear what she means by that? I'm not sure what she means. How much clearer do you
01:47want me to be? Look at the gangs that they've uncovered in other parts of the
01:52country. Do we have those gangs in London? It's a simple question. The answer
01:58is very simple. It's yes or no. I'm not asking you where those gangs are because
02:02the police might not want them to be disclosed. I'm asking you do we have
02:08those sort of gangs in London? I'm not sure why she's so nervous to say what
02:14she means. What do you mean? No, no, no. I am saying exactly what I mean. I'm saying
02:20have we got any of those grooming gangs in London? I'm unfair Chair. What is meant
02:27by the question? If she could spell it out I can answer. I've just spelled it
02:30out. Are you not listening? It's the sort of gangs that groom young girls at a
02:35young age for sex. Exactly how much clearer do you want me to be? So we do
02:42have issues in London with young girls being groomed for county lines. Some of
02:46those girls are used for sex and that's one of the reasons why I've set up
02:50things like the Lighthouse funded by City Hall. Why we've set up four hubs to
02:55help survivors of child sexual abuse. Why we're investing in London's violence and
03:00exploitation support service. Why I commissioned the HMI to look into the
03:03issue of child exploitation. Why the police service now employs 1,200 child
03:08protection officers. Why we have operations at Tyria first begun in
03:12London. Why we're the only police force that began the V100 targeting the 100 most violent. I just asked a yes-no question. So approximately how many of these gangs that I am
03:23talking about that I do not know why you don't understand the sort of gangs I'm
03:27talking about. Exactly or approximately I should say to give you leeway.
03:33Approximately how many of those gangs have we got in London? Because the public
03:37is very very rightfully concerned about this and concerned about these young
03:41women. Well I'm still not the wiser why she's so nervous about saying what she
03:46means. But in London we have V100 which is the 100 most prolific dangerous
03:52people the police target. That number goes up and down. So one month the V100
03:55may be 120 people or one month there may be 80 people and each BCU has a
04:01localized V number. So when I was in Croydon a few weeks ago the V number
04:06wasn't 100 it was a bit below. But as they reminded me people can sometimes go
04:10in that list or out that list. Thank you. Chairman I was very clear in what I was
04:16talking about. I just don't understand what it is that the mayor wants me to
04:20say that's any different. I'll leave it there. Thank you.