Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of the number of adults convicted of offences involving the online grooming of children in 2018 and 2019.

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on proceedings and outcomes for a range of offences relating to grooming including: sexual communication with a child; and meeting a child aged under 16 following sexual grooming. Offences relating to online grooming are not distinguished from all grooming offences in court data.

Data on these offences is published up to December 2019 and available in the Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888344/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx

Filter ‘detailed offence’ for:

Or filter ‘offence’ for:

88A Sexual Grooming