Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to announce a broad independent inquiry into how public institutions handled allegations of child abuse. Mrs May will give details of the probe as she makes a statement to MPs this afternoon.
The Home Office is to appoint a senior legal figure to carry out a fresh review into how a dossier alleging paedophile activity at Westminster in the 1980s was handled by the department.
Mark Sedwill, the Home Office permanent secretary, has written to Prime Minister David Cameron to say the new investigation would assess whether conclusions of an earlier review conducted last year "remain sound".
Mr Sedwill wrote: "To provide the additional reassurance you are seeking, particularly in view of information now in the public domain since the investigation's conclusion last year, I will engage a senior independent legal figure to assess whether the review's conclusions remain sound.
"I aim to make the appointment within the next week".
The MP who raised the claims that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster during the 1980s said new allegations have now come to light.
Lord Brittan has defended his handling of a dossier alleging paedophile activity in Westminster when he was home secretary in the 1980s.
A 1980s dossier claiming paedophile activity at Westminster may have mysteriously gone missing but the questions still remain.