You asked
Please could you provide the following:
The number of recorded cases of Sexual Assault in the street again Women in England for the year 2016-2017
The number of recorded cases of Sexual Assault against Women in England for the year 2010-2011
The number of recorded cases of Sexual Assault against Women in England for the year 2016-2017
The number of recorded cases of Sexual Assault against Men in England for the year 2010-2011
The number of recorded cases of Sexual Assault against Men in England for the year 2016-2017
We said
Thank you for your request.
Data on the numbers of sexual offences (including sexual assaults) reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales for the years ending March 2011 and March 2017 are published in Table A4 of the ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018‘ release, available here:
Caution should be exercised in analysing the trend in the number of sexual offences recorded by the police during this period. The ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’ report, published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in November 2014 indicated that sexual offences were being considerably under-recorded by the police;
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/crime-recording-making-the-victim-count
Since then, there has been evidence of improvements in the recording of sexual offences by police forces. This has been coupled with an increased willingness of victims to come forward and report these crimes to the police, following high-profile coverage of sexual offences and the police response to reports of non-recent sexual offending. As such, it is likely that the increases seen in sexual offences are largely due to more victims reporting to the police and improvements in recording practices by police forces, rather than a genuine rise in these offences.
An alternative source of information that you may find useful is the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). Although this doesn’t provide numbers of incidents of sexual assaults, it does provide data on the risk of victimisation for sexual assaults. The CSEW is a household victimisation survey that asks respondents (adults aged 16 to 59) about their experiences of crime. In this survey we collect information on victims of sexual assault within a self-completion module. Please note that data from the CSEW is available at England and Wales level only.
Data from the CSEW on the percentage of women who were a victim of sexual assault (rape or assault by penetration only) on the street since the age of 16 in England and Wales for the year ending March 2017 has been published in Table 16 of the ‘Sexual offences in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’ release, available here:
Data from the CSEW on the number of women and men who were victims of sexual assault in the last year in England and Wales for the years ending March 2011 and March 2017 have been published in Table 3 of the ‘Sexual offences in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’ release, available here:
If you have any further questions, or would like any crime related information in the future, please feel free to email CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.