Historical child sexual abuse inquiry to open

The independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in England and Wales will open later, nearly a year after it was first announced.

It will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who chairs the inquiry, will summarise how it will be run, including timescales and the areas of public life that will be examined.

The inquiry was first announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in July 2014.

It followed claims of a high-level cover-up of child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians.

Justice Goddard, a New Zealand High Court judge, is the third person named to chair the inquiry; her two predecessors resigned over concerns about their links with the establishment.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, the first inquiry chairwoman, resigned a week after it was set up.

This followed calls for her to quit because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, had been attorney general in the 1980s.