Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional resources her Department is making available in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to (i) the Metropolitan Police to investigate historic child abuse allegations and (ii) the Metropolitan Police and other agencies to offer counselling and support to the victims of such abuse; and if she will make a statement.

Resourcing is an operational matter for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat to empower forces to maximise specialist skills and expertise to prevent offending and resolve cases. This means that police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners must have in place the capabilities they need to protect children from sexual abuse.

In 2015/16 the Home Office provided an additional £10 million to the National Crime Agency for the creation of more specialist teams to tackle online child sexual exploitation. We have also made available £1.7 million to fund Operation Hydrant, which coordinates the handling of multiple historical child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and £1.5 million to support regional coordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling Child Sexual Exploitation.

The Home Office and Ministry of Justice will provide an additional £7 million for victims services supporting survivors of sexual violence in 2014/15 and 2015/16. £2.15 million of that £7million has been provided as an uplift in funding to 84 existing Rape Support Centres.