Mandatory collection and publication of certain child sexual offender data

Place a statutory requirement on councils, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and all other related institutions to collect, record and publish the nationality, ethnicity, immigration status and religion of child sexual offenders, including gang based crime.

To protect children and inform public policy, we believe it is essential to collect, record and publish the nationality, ethnicity, immigration status and religion of all child sexual offenders, including gang based crime. This data will allow for better understanding of offender demographics, ensure transparency, and support targeted safeguarding strategies. Without this information, critical patterns may be missed, weakening efforts to prevent abuse and protect vulnerable children.

The Government is determined to protect children from the horrors of grooming gangs and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. In February 2025, the Prime Minister and then Home Secretary commissioned Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock to evaluate the understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), including assessing data on the ethnicity of perpetrators. Her National Audit was published on Monday 16 June, and can be found here – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-audit-on-group-based-child-sexual-exploitation-and-abuse.

The Government immediately accepted the twelve recommendations from Baroness Casey’s Audit, which included making it a requirement for the police to collect the ethnicity and nationality data of individuals suspected of being members of grooming gangs or perpetrators of other group-based child sexual exploitation (recommendation four).

In July this year, the former Home Secretary wrote to all Chief Constables to set out the clear expectation that ethnicity data on child sexual exploitation and grooming gang suspects should be collected in every case, and to urge them to make sure they are fulfilling their obligation to collect suspect ethnicity data as part of the Government's commitment to transparency and accountability. The Home Office is closely monitoring data collection and provision from forces and continues to engage with individual forces on where improvements are required. If we do not see improvements, we will not hesitate to take further action.