Dame Lowell Goddard has been asked to appear before MPs following her resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Justice Goddard announced she was quitting on Thursday amid reports she spent three months on holiday or abroad in her first year in the £500,000 job.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, reassured victims of abuse that "the work of the inquiry will continue without delay and a new chair will be appointed".

Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said he had written to the New Zealand judge asking her to appear before MPs later this month to explain her departure and her thoughts on how the inquiry should proceed.

He told Sky News: "What's really important is that we find out the reasons why she has decided to take this course of action...and share with us her thoughts about the setting up of this inquiry, why she resigned and where she thinks we should go.


"She has been intimately concerned with establishing this very difficult inquiry so what she has to say is extremely pertinent and I don't really think a resignation letter or a statement is enough."

Justice Goddard was appointed after two previous chairwomen quit.

The inquiry was established in 2014 to look at claims of a cover-up by the establishment, after allegations a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

It has yet to hear any evidence from witnesses.

Justice Goddard's letter reads: "I regret to advise that I am offering you my resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Institutional Child Sex Abuse, with immediate effect. I trust you will accept this decision."

Feb 2015: Goddard Promises Robust Inquiry

In a statement released after her resignation, she said she had found it difficult to leave behind New Zealand and her family, but suggested the controversies that have dogged the inquiry had proved insurmountable.

She said: "The conduct of any public inquiry is not an easy task, let alone one of the magnitude of this.

"Compounding the many difficulties was its legacy of failure which has been very hard to shake off and with hindsight it would have been better to have started completely afresh.

"While it has been a struggle in many respects, I am confident there have been achievements and some very real gains for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in getting their voices heard.

"I have nothing but the greatest of respect for the victims and survivors and have particularly enjoyed working with the Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel which I established."

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association of People Abused In Childhood, told Sky News he was "profoundly disappointed".

"She has been hounded somewhat by the press and I think that is very regrettable and that is what the British tend to do I am afraid," said Mr Saunders.

"I think its a great tragedy she has gone but let's move on."

Justice Goddard spent 44 days in Australia and New Zealand in the inquiry's first year, a spokesman has confirmed.

But he told The Times she had been on "inquiry business" and learning from a similar Australian abuse inquiry.

On top of the time spent abroad, the judge also received 30 days' annual leave.

Her annual salary was £360,000 and she also got £110,000 to rent a flat and £12,000 for utility bills.

The Government also funded four return flights to New Zealand for Dame Lowell and her husband.

In accepting the resignation, the Home Secretary said the inquiry had "already instituted and made progress on its three core projects: the Research Project, the Truth Project; and the Public Hearings Project".

Oct 2014: Woolf Quits Abuse Inquiry

She thanked the judge for "bringing your experience to bear" and for 16 months of "commitment" and "hard work".

The first chair of the inquiry - which covers England and Wales - was Baroness Butler-Sloss, who stood down in July 2014 amid questions over the role of her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.

Her replacement, Dame Fiona Woolf, resigned after criticism of her links to the establishment, most notably in relation to former home secretary Leon Brittan.