Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been charged with offences relating to online internet abuse in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not held by the Home Office. The Home Office receives data from police forces in England and Wales on crimes and outcomes of all offences in the notifiable offence list. Online internet abuse is not a specific crime category and such abuse is likely to fall into one of the specific offences such as ‘harassment’ or ‘stalking’. Furthermore, police outcomes measure the number of offences that result in a charge, rather than the number of people charged for each offence.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales.