A review has failed to find a file allegedly indicating Whitehall was aware of widespread child abuse in Rotherham years before the scandal was exposed, home secretary Sajid Javid said today.

The independent review of information passed to the Home Office in connection with allegations of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham between 1998 and 2005 was commissioned after Professor Alexis Jay's independent inquiry suggested the department had been passed information about the scale of abuse in the Yorkshire town many years before anybody was convicted.