Child Sexual Exploitation (472A/23)
Request
For the purposes of this Freedom of Information request, child sexual exploitation offences are defined by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as amended by Section 68 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. This includes:
- Section 47 Sexual Offences Act 2003: Paying for sexual services of a child;
- Section 48 Sexual Offences Act 2003: Causing or inciting [sexual exploitation of a child];
- Section 49 Sexual Offences Act 2003: Controlling a child [in relation to sexual exploitation];
- Section 50 Sexual Offences Act 2003: Arranging or facilitating [sexual exploitation of a child].
We are looking to find out:
- How many recorded incidents of child sexual exploitation were there per month from January 2016 – December 2022?
Response
Please find attached (472A_23_attachment.pdf).
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.