§ Mr. David MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for what reason statistics relating to sexual offences in Scotland are not collected centrally in a way which separately identifies such offences against children; if he will make it his policy in future to collect statistics in this way; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonWhile statistics on crimes collected centrally have generally not been classified by the characteristics of the victim of the crime, the Scottish Criminal Statistics Committee is currently examining the feasibility of collecting information for certain offences, including sexual offences, on whether the victim was a child or an adult.