The new head of a British inquiry into child sexual abuse, who was hired after the previous New Zealand chairwoman resigned over the scale of the probe, is defending the embattled inquest and insists it will not be scaled back.
Professor Alexis Jay admitted its scale and scope were a "substantial challenge" but stressed she would not seek to revise nor reduce the terms of reference.
Last month Dame Lowell Goddard became the third chairwoman to quit the inquiry, which has been beset by problems since it was launched in 2014.
Earlier this week Dame Lowell, a New Zealand High Court judge, delivered a critical assessment of the inquiry - saying there was an "inherent problem" in its "sheer scale and size" and calling for a "complete review".
Meanwhile, one survivors' group has said it may pull out of the inquiry because it does not believe it is "truly independent", citing concerns about the involvement of the Home Office.
The sweeping probe has been described as the most ambitious public inquiry ever in England and Wales. It was earmarked to take five years, but there have been suggestions it could run for as long as a decade.
In a letter to the inquiry's core participants, Jay wrote: "Its scale and scope are a substantial challenge, but the panel and I are absolutely committed to delivering results with pace, confidence and clarity."
Jay, who previously led an inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, went on: "I would like to reassure any victim or survivor who is concerned that their experience may be excluded from our work that I have no intention of asking the Home Secretary to revise or reduce our terms of reference."
On her second day as chair she ordered an internal review of the inquiry's approach to its investigations and said only a quarter of the staff are formerly from the Home Office.
