Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to allocate additional funding to police forces to tackle child grooming in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK.

The Home Office does not provide funding for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Policing is a devolved matter and it is for the Department of Justice (Northern Ireland) to determine the level of resources required by the Service.

In England and Wales, £20m over three years has been awarded through the Police Transformation Fund to increase capability to target online grooming of children. The Home Office is also providing ongoing funding for several major child sexual abuse investigations through Police Special Grant.

Ministers engaged with every police force in England and Wales about changing demand before making decisions on the 2018/19 funding settlement. The Government recognised changing demands, including the complex and resource intensive work involved in investigating child sexual exploitation, through an increase in total investment in the police system of around £450m in 2018/19.

Increasing awareness of the risks posed to children by online offenders is vitally important to combat online grooming. The National Crime Agency’s Thinkuknow education programme provides educational resources for use with children and young people helping them to identify the risks they may face, particularly online. This programme has been used across the country, including in Northern Ireland, to help keep children and young people safe online.