§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent his Department collects and collates statistics from local authority social services departments covering child abuse cases referred to them, including such detail as mode of referral and nature of abuse; whether he has plans to institute the compilation and production of such statistics; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe information collected centrally about child abuse relates to the number of children and young persons on child protection registers and the number of names added to and removed from the registers. The most recent information relates to the year ending 31 March 1990. This is published in the provisional feedback "Children and Young Persons on Child Protection Registers England 1990" and is available in the Library.
Information is not collected centrally about the number of child abuse case referrals and there are no plans to institute collection of such statistics.