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Written question asked by Scott Arthur (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. It was answered by Sarah Jones (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 July 2026 on behalf of the Home Office.

Sexual Offences: Victims

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many woman and girls she estimates have been victims of grooming gangs; and what methodology she uses to calculate that number.

Answer

The true scale of group-based child sexual exploitation remains unknown because of under-reporting, under-identification, and variations in data collection and analysis. However, data from the Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse shows that 15% of girls and 5% of boys are estimated to have been sexually abused before the age of 16.

The Home Office continues to work with policing colleagues to improve data collection and analysis to improve understanding of these crimes and to develop a more accurate understanding of victims and perpetrators.

We continue to support the Office for National Statistics work on the Safety During Childhood Survey, which will improve our understanding of the scale of a range of harms that children and young people experience, including child sexual abuse.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
18334
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Women Victims Sexual offences Girls
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk