Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals for online child sexual abuse cases the National Crime Agency has passed on to each police force in England between (a) March 2020 and February 2021 and (b) March 2021 and February 2022.

Tackling online child sexual abuse remains a key priority for this Government. Investment in the National Crime Agency and UK forces has ensured offenders are identified and brought to justice.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) leads the law enforcement response to online child sexual abuse working in collaboration with police forces across England. The NCA develops and disseminates intelligence in relation to online child sexual abuse to UK forces and NCA teams. This intelligence includes industry referrals of child sexual abuse, public reports, and intelligence generated by the NCA and international law enforcement.

In cases where the NCA judges that an offence has occurred and the offender can be located, these cases, including the content, are disseminated to a police force, Region or NCA Investigations for action.

In the period March 2020 to February 2021, the NCA disseminated 14,260 online child sexual abuse cases to forces in England including 18 individual cases referred to two or more police forces. And in the period between March 2021 and February 2022 the NCA disseminated 17,022 online child sexual abuse cases to forces in England including 34 individual cases referred to two or more police forces.