Offences Against Children

Home Office written question – answered at on 19 February 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Jim Shannon Jim Shannon Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Human Rights), Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Health)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in each of the last five years.

Photo of Victoria Atkins Victoria Atkins The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

The Home Office collects and publishes data on crimes recorded by the police, including crimes related to child sexual abuse. These are published quarterly in the Office for National Statistics bulletin “Crime in England and Wales”. The latest data are available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2019

The ONS have recently published additional statistics and commentary on child sex abuse. There are available here https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/childsexualabuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019. The most recent survey estimates that in the year ending March 2019, approximately 3.1 million adults aged 18 to 74 years experienced child sexual abuse before the age of 16 years. This is equivalent to 7.5% of the population aged 18 to 74 years.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes1 person thinks so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.