Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) total, (b) police, (c) CPS and (d) court costs of Operation Pallial have been to date.

Child abuse is an horrific crime and we have been clear that if anyone has been a victim of child sexual abuse, or knows of someone who has been a victim, then they should report it to the police so that it can be thoroughly investigated. Operation Pallial is an independent investigation by the National Crime Agency. It has conducted 275 Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interviews. A total of eight people have been convicted of one or more offences as a result of Operation Pallial investigations. Of the eight convicted so far, three had convictions for similar offences and five did not have criminal convictions for similar offences. The costs of the police operation for Operation Pallial are £3.7 million covering the financial years 2012/13 until 2015/16. The estimated costs for 2016/17 are £891,000. These costs represent the policing costs of the investigation. The Home Office does not hold information on the costs of this operation relating to the Crown Prosecution Service or the courts.