Scotland's child abuse inquiry is to investigate grooming gangs who prey on youngsters in care.

Retired High Court judge Lady Smith, chairman of the long-running statutory probe, said this phase of its work would be launched next year.

It will look at cases where the victims were in care, while a separate public inquiry set up by the SNP government and led by Professor Alexis Jay will look at the wider problem.

South of the Border, Baroness Anne Longfield is leading another inquiry into grooming gangs, which began work in April.

Holly Alex, who was groomed by a gang while in care in Edinburgh, told the Mail: ‘It’s really important that the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) is looking at child sexual exploitation, but I also think the separate public inquiry is crucial.

‘The SCAI’s main scope focuses on children and young people who were in care, which is highly important, but we also need to recognise that child sexual exploitation (CSE) can and does affect young people who have never been in the care system.

‘I believe the separate public inquiry would have a wider scope and be able to look at broader issues, giving a voice to other victims and families as well.

‘For me, it’s important that the full picture is understood and that nobody affected by CSE feels their experiences have been overlooked or dismissed.’

In a statement, SCAI chairman Lady Smith said she defined exploitation as a ‘type of abuse in which a single person or groups of people persuade or force a child to engage in sexual or other activity’.

She said: ‘When groups of people do this, they may be referred to as “grooming gangs”.

‘So long as the exploited child was in care, we can investigate the abuse even if the grooming or the exploitation took place outside the placement or foster home.

‘And we can investigate allegations of abuse which happened before the end of December 2014 and, to be clear, we can investigate abuse which began before and continued after that date.

‘We plan to focus on the exploitation of children in care in our Phase 11 hearings in the early part of 2027.’

The SCAI was launched back in 2015 and has so far cost more than £100million.

In February, Jenny Gilruth, who was then Education Secretary, told Holyrood the government would ‘establish a targeted independent inquiry and establish a Scottish Truth Project’, which would enable victims to share their experiences.

Professor Jay will chair the statutory probe to examine Scotland’s response to the problem - after months of delay by SNP ministers over whether to order one.

Her inquiry will focus on the prevalence of ‘group-based’ sexual abuse now and in the ‘recent past’.

Angela Constance faced calls to quit as Justice Secretary last year after wrongly claiming Professor Jay - who wrote the report on the Rotherham grooming scandal - said she did not back a Scottish inquiry.

Fiona Goddard, who previously told the Mail how she was trafficked to Scotland from England and raped by Asian men when she was a teenager, welcomed the inquiry by Professor Jay earlier this year.

She said: ‘I will be watching closely to see how it is structured, particularly its terms of reference, and I hope it will address the challenges of cross-Border trafficking.’

Ms Gilruth, now Deputy First Minister, said in February: ‘Announcing an independent public inquiry will not cure all which has come before, but it is a statement of intent from this government that we will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice for survivors of child sexual abuse.’

She said the Truth Project, to be led by John O’Brien, who was secretary to the grooming gangs inquiry south of the Border, will ensure that the ‘voice of survivors is central to our collective efforts so that every action is informed by their experience and brings about the changes they have told me must be made’.

Professor Jay said: ‘The public inquiry will get to the truth of exploitation in Scotland in the past and the present, in order to prevent it in the future.’