Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals were arrested in connection with suspected (a) live streamed online child sexual abuse and (b) exploitative behaviour in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021, (iii) 2022 and (iv) 2023; and if he will list the nationalities of suspected overseas victims.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests as part of the annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical bulletin. The most recent data up to the year ending March 2023 is available on gov.uk. There is no specific offence of livestreamed child sexual abuse or exploitative behaviour. Arrest data is collected by broader offence group e.g. “sexual offences”.

The Home Office does not hold information relating to the nationality of victims of crime.

However, the Government provides dedicated funding to the National Crime Agency and a network of Undercover Online Officers in Regional Organised Crime Units to tackle the highest harm child sexual abuse offenders, including those engaged in the livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Our understanding of the nature and scale of livestreamed child sexual abuse is informed by threat assessments produced by the National Assessment Centre and other organisations.