HC Deb 26 November 1986 vol 106 cc247-8W
Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has concerning the number of prosecutions for child abuse which were brought in the last year for which figures are available; and how many of the defendants in these cases were (a) the natural father of the child, (b) the natural mother of the child, (c) the stepfather of the child and (d) the stepmother of the child.

Mr. Mellor

The readily available information for 1985 is brought together in the following table. For other types of offences of violence and sexual offences it is not possible from the records of the results of court proceedings to distinguish the age of the victim. Similarly, the data collected centrally do not contain details about the relationship between offender and victim, except in cases of homicide.

The information provided on those offences marked with an asterisk is published annually in "Criminal statistics, England and Wales, Supplementary tables, Volume 1" [table S1.1(A) in the issue for 1985].

Defendants proceeded against at all courts for certain violence against the person or sexual offences where the victim is known to be aged 16 or under England and Wales—1985
Number
Indictable offences
Murder of infants under one year of age 6
Infanticide* 4
Cruelty to or neglect of children* 113
Abandoning child under two years* 6
Child abduction* 38
Buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 180
Attempt to commit buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 14
Indecent assault on a male person under 16 578
Indecent assault on a female person under 16 1,705
Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13* 137
Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16* 405
Incest with a girl under 13 55
Inciting girl under 16 to have incestuous sexual intercourse 1
Householder permitting unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 5
Abduction of unmarried girl under 16 11
Gross indecency with children* 265
Summary offence
Cruelty to a child, etc.* 3

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what information he has concerning the number of suspected child abuse cases which have been reported in each region in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how many of these reported cases involved children who were either illegitimate or members of single-parent families;

(2) what information he has concerning the numbers and percentages of all child abuse cases in the latest year for which figures are available in which the child concerned had been born illegitimate.

Mr. Mellor

The information requested is not collected centrally. Estimates of the numbers of children under 16 who were victims of certain violent and sexual offences recorded by the police in 1984 have been published in table 2 of Home Office "Statistical Bulletin" issue 29/86.