Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans his Department has to improve evidence gathering and ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service receives actionable evidence in cases of historic childhood sexual abuse.

We recognise the need for the police to have appropriate resources in place to manage complex child sexual abuse investigations. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat to empower police forces to maximise their specialist skills and expertise, and have invested significantly in transforming the police response to child sexual abuse through the Police Transformation Fund.

Operation Hydrant was established to co-ordinate efforts across policing to respond to the increasing volume of non-recent child sexual abuse cases being reported. We have supported Operation Hydrant with £11.8m of po-lice Special Grant funding to date. Additionally, the College of Policing has developed bespoke guidance to senior investigating officers managing non-recent investigations.