§ 63. Mr. Clwydasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will discuss with the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis the police response to women and children who are victims of violent crime.
§ Mr. Giles ShawWe are considering with the Metropolitan police the recommendations made in the report by the women's national commission on violence against women, and also the field trials which are being carried out by the Metropolitan police and the London borough of Bexley on the treatment of child victims of sexual assault.
The Metropolitan police are also to issue a booklet, "Positive Steps", containing advice for women on how to avoid attack.
§ 64. Dr. McDonaldasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is available to his Department on the incidence of crime against children aged under 18 years in England and Wales.
§ Mr. MellorInformation is collected on a regular basis from all police forces in England and Wales on the ages of victims of homicide and on the numbers of certain offences recorded which can only be committed against children, such as "gross indecency with a child". Statistics of these are published annually in chapters 2 and 4 of the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (Cmnd. 9621 for 1984). Estimates of the incidence in 1984 of recorded offences of personal violence against children under 16, based on a special collection of data from a sample of police forces, were published in Home Office Research Study No. 89. "Personal Violence" (Tables 6, 12 and 15).