Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department has allocated to the provision of therapy services for victims of child sexual abuse under the age of 13 in each year since 2010.

The Government is committed to ensuring victims of sexual abuse feel that they can come forward to report abuse, and that they can get the support they need, whether they are a child or an adult. That is why we provide grant funding for victim support services across the country, which victims can access throughout their lifetime.

The nature of this funding has evolved over time to reflect changes in demand and the changing nature of crime; hence we are unable to provide a consistent breakdown of funding since 2010.

Since 2016/17, the Ministry of Justice have provided around £7m per year of ring-fenced funding specifically for provision of support to victims of recent and non-recent child sexual abuse (CSA). In 2018/19, this included £4.7m provided to the Police and Crime Commissioners to locally commission or deliver such services, £1.74m allocated directly to rape support centres and £0.58m allocated to a fund maintained by the Home Office for national and regional organisations supporting victims of recent and non-recent CSA. This funding is not age-restricted; hence we are unable to provide information around how much has been allocated to support individuals under 13.

Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse are also supported by the NHS England-funded Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs), which are open to all victims of sexual violence regardless of age and provide a range of services including crisis worker support and psychological therapy sessions to address any of victims’ immediate needs. This funding has increased significantly from £23m in 2016/17 to £35m in 2019/20, and supports work to improve the therapy offer for both children and adults.