Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the sex was of the complainant and the accused in each case of stalking reported after the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; and what proportion of such cases which were investigated resulted in the accused being (i) charged with the offence and (ii) cautioned.

Lynne Featherstone

The Home Office does not hold this information centrally. The Home Office has received data on the number of stalking offences recorded in England and Wales since April 2014 as a separate offence category but these data do not contain
information on the sex of the victim or the perpetrator. Prior to April 2014, stalking offences under Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 were included within the harassment offence classification.

The latest available statistics show that between April and June 2014 there were 695 stalking offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice hold separate data for the number of cautions that have been issued for stalking. Between the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act in January 2013 and 30 June 2014 there were 57 cautions given for
stalking. This comprised of 49 given to males, 7 given to females and 1 where the gender was not stated.

Neither the Home Office nor the Ministry of Justice hold information on the number of individuals charged.