§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been brought involving(a) child abuse and (b) stalking of children within internet chat rooms; and how many such prosecutions have been successful. [136215]
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§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 6 November 2000]: The information is not available in the form requested.
Any sexual or violent offence committed against a child might amount to abuse. It is not possible to identify child victims of abuse from the overall statistics.
Among the range of offences an adult might be charged with, in respect of a child, however, is the offence of indecent conduct towards a young child under section 1 of the Indecency with Children Act 1960. For 1999 the statistics for prosecutions and convictions were: 330 prosecutions and 217 convictions.
Similarly, there is no specific offence of stalking of children within internet chat rooms. It is not possible to say how many of the offences of "stalking" under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 involve children using the internet.
However, information is given as follows, for offences under Section 2 and Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in 1999.
Under s. 2—summary offence of harassment—there were: 5,427 prosecutions and 2,709 convictions.
Under s. 4 of the 1997 Act—putting people in fear of violence—there were: 1,632 prosecutions and 488 convictions.