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The national inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs in England and Wales was announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June 2025.
But it faced turbulence when five abuse survivors called on safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to quit.
Baroness Longfield will be supported by Zoe Billingham, a former member of the independent police inspectorate, and Eleanor Kelly, former chief executive of Southwark Council.
Oldham was first selected as a local area for investigation last year by the then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Survivors in Oldham had called for a new investigation into historical child sex abuse cases because they felt a local review in 2022 was "too limited".
In Bradford, concerns have been raised over many years by victims and survivors, and new Reform UK council leader Stephen Place recently wrote to Baroness Longfield requesting the city be included as one of the five focus areas.
The inquiry said London would provide "a different context because of its scale and complexity", as it has multiple boroughs and overlapping systems.
A BBC News report by Sima Kotecha looked into the problem in the capital in January and discovered that girls as young as 13 were being exploited for sex by groups of men. We understand that its findings contributed to London's inclusion in the inquiry.
Further local areas will be announced later this year.
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, who has campaigned on child protection for more than a decade, said on social network X that she was "pleased" with the announcement.
The South Yorkshire town was one of several areas where gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani descent, raped and trafficked children as young as 11 between 1997 and 2013.
An independent report, published by Prof Alexis Jay in 2014, estimated 1,400 girls had been abused in Rotherham.
Posting on Wednesday, the MP said: "Really pleased to see this, the right decision if we want to understand the bigger picture."
