The Home Office is refusing to publish figures for the number of grooming gang members that have been deported.

The department has declined to put the figures in the public domain despite an outcry over child sexual exploitation and demands for a fresh state-backed inquiry into the abuse.

Labour last week refused to launch a public inquiry into historic sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham, saying it was for the council to decide whether one was necessary.

The Home Office’s refusal comes after calls from Suella Braverman, a former home secretary, for a “zero tolerance approach” to the deportation of foreign child sex offenders.

She said: “We need to have a zero tolerance approach when it comes to deporting those foreign nationals who have been found guilty of these heinous crimes.”