§ Ms McCaffertyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department issues to chief constables concerning training for the policing of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. [122491]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeNew Government guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children" which is available in the Library and which has been circulated to chief officers of police, recommends that in local areas where there are communities who traditionally practice female genital mutilation, the policy of Area Child Protection Committees (on which the police are represented) should focus on a preventive strategy involving community education.
§ Ms McCaffertyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many(a) arrests and (b) convictions have been made under the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985; [122490]
(2) how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions have been made under (i) the Children Act 1989 and (ii) the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act 1998, in relation to the practice of female genital mutilation in the UK and abroad. [122494]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeArrest data are not collected centrally by individual offence.
The Home Office Court Proceedings Database show no defendants proceeded against under the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. Information collected 174W under the Children Act 1989 and the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act 1998 does not distinguish such offences from others within these Acts.