Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of accusations of abuse towards children in the Cadet Forces; and how many have led to successful prosecution in each of the last five years.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has robust procedures in place to protect cadets. This includes ensuring that all adults who work with children are required to undergo mandatory security and background checks, are subject to rigorous disclosure procedures and receive regular safeguarding training. We encourage anyone who has been a victim, or knows someone who has, to report it to the police.

The cadet organisations have comprehensive reporting procedures in place to ensure that when they are made aware of an incident it is acted upon immediately; any allegation involving possible criminal activity is reported to the appropriate authorities for investigation. Background checks are undertaken for all Adult volunteers and unlike many other youth organisations, the checks are redone or updated every five years. Whilst each Cadet Headquarters has safeguarding expertise and can provide advice, victims of past abuse are directed to the various professional organisations e.g. the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, who specialise in this type of support.

In the period 2012 – June 2017, 363 abuse allegations were made to the MOD of which 282 were referred to the police. Information on the number of prosecutions would be held by the relevant individual police forces. The MOD does not hold this detail.