Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what, if any, circulars were issued by the Home Office to police forces in England and Wales about the circumstances in which instances of organised sexual abuse and exploitation of young women and girls should not be investigated, in each year since 2008.

All Home Office issued circulars are published. Home Office circulars from 2012 to 2018 are available via https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-circulars-2018. Circulars from 2003 to 2011 are on the National Archives website http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130125092816/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/corporate-publications-strategy/home-office-circulars/.

We have not identified any Home Office circulars that set out any circumstances in which child sexual abuse and exploitation should not be investigated.

A circular issued in 2008 on the application of the Children Act stresses the paramountcy of respecting the wishes and the feelings of the child in investigations.