Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many girls under the age of 18 in the UK have an FGM protection order in place as at July 2020.

The Ministry of Justice collates information on the number of applications and the number of FGM protection orders granted. There is no mandatory requirement to collate statistics on the duration of orders and whether they remain in place at any point in time. The quality of available data can only, therefore, be verified at disproportionate cost. However, following their introduction in July 2015, 584 FGM protection orders have been granted up to 31 March 2020, the latest period for which information is available.

Similarly, data relating to the age of the person to be protected by an FGM protection order granted by the court is not collated and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Data relating to age is collated, however, on a person or persons named in any application for a FGM protection order. Following their introduction in July 2015, 405 applicants, aged 17 or under, had been the subject of an application for an FGM protection order up to 31 March 2020, the latest period for which statistics are available.

Statistics to the end of June 2020 are scheduled for publication in late September, and statistics for July are scheduled for publication in late December.