Sexual violence in schools

Freedom of information request reference no: 218/25

REQUEST

1. I would like to know how many reports were made of sexual violence (includes rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, indecent exposure and sexual exploitation) in schools.

• For this data I would like a breakdown of how many cases were reported where the perpetrator was logged as a minor.
• For each of these requests I would like a breakdown of the figures by the years 2014,2015,2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

RESPONSE

We consulted with our performance analyst team who have provided the following data regarding your request.

Question 1

Please note, the below data is crime data where the perpetrator was recorded as under the age of 18. The data has been filtered to only include offences where the location was recorded as a school. The following crime types have been searched for this data; Rape, Serious Sexual Offences and Other Sexual Offences.

Please note, this response relates to offences reported at schools. It is not a list of offences that have taken place in schools.

These offences often involve Peer to Peer occurrences where there is a level of consensual behaviour, and also other matters where those involved are below the age of criminal responsibility. As such, due to the age of those involved, and after appropriate investigation, it would not be in the public interest to prosecute, and diversionary measures, education and multi-agency safeguarding are often the most appropriate course of action. This is supported within National Guidelines and school's programmes. It must be noted that although the location for offences has been recorded as the school, it will include data where the school was the location of the report and not the actual offence.