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<p>The term child abuse covers a broad range of offences including, but not limited
to, sexual offences, violence against the person and cruelty and neglect. It is not
possible to identify all child abuse offences recorded in official data.</p><p>In
January 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published experimental analysis
which looked at a range of indicators from different data sources to enable understanding
of child abuse. This report can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/childabuseinenglandandwales/january2020"
target="_blank">Child abuse in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
(ons.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p>As the Home Secretary stated in his written statement of 10
January 2024, we are working with the ONS to explore whether a new survey could more
effectively measure the current scale and nature of child abuse and neglect, including
child sexual abuse. The ONS is currently developing the questionnaire and safeguarding
procedures for the proposed survey, which will then be piloted.</p>
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