The vast majority of grooming gang offences are carried out by white men, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has said.
New figures from the police database show that, where ethnicity data was available, 85% of “group-based” child abusers were white in the first three quarters of 2024.
The same data for the whole of 2023 showed 83% of offenders were white.
Richard Fewkes, the director of the NPCC’s Hydrant programme targeting child sexual abuse, said there is no “significant issue” with “any particular ethnicity or setting”.
Mr Fewkes’ comments come after tech entrepreneur Elon Musk used his social media platform X to wage an online campaign against the government over the issue of grooming gangs.
The billionaire has accused the Prime Minister of being “complicit in the rape of Britain” over his record as a former director of public prosecutions, and called safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a “witch” and a “rape genocide apologist”.
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Mr Fewkes said: “(The data) reflects what you would expect to see across the country in terms of ethnicity.
“Offences where grooming gangs are involved are predominantly white.
“There is not a significant issue here with any particular ethnicity or setting.”
The NPCC said the data, collated in this way for the first time, will now be used to inform the training of new officers and help chiefs at a “force-based level”.
“The data we collect now is a starting point,” Mr Fewkes said.
In recent days, the online and political debate has seen calls for an inquiry into child rape by Pakistani men, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage demanding a probe into “to what extent were gangs of Pakistani men raping young white girls.”
In 2023, the largest proportion of child sexual abuse suspects were white, accounting for 1,884 (83%), followed by 62 Pakistani suspects (2.7%), the NPCC’s data shows.
From January to September 2024, there were 1,623 (85%) white suspects, and 75 Pakistani (3.9%).
When data on abuse in institutions, such as within schools, churches and children’s homes, and offences committed within a family are removed, the figures for “group-based” child sexual exploitation show that in 2023, there were 224 (70%) white grooming gang suspects, compared with 22 Pakistani (6.9%).
From January to September 2024, there were 144 (63%) white suspects, and 31 (13.7%) Pakistani.
But the data is incomplete, as the NPCC said the information on ethnicity was available for only 34% of suspects in the whole of 2023 and for only 39% of suspects in the first nine months of 2024.
The NPCC added: “Quarter four 2024 is not included in 2024 data as it is still being worked on.”
Mr Fewkes said the focus on the issue of grooming gangs in recent days had turned attention away from other areas of child sexual abuse, including that carried out within a family.
Grooming gangs are behind two child sexual abuse offences reported to police every day, The Telegraph reported.
The analysis reported by the newspaper said there were 4,228 offences of “group-based” child sexual abuse, which made up 3.7% of the 115,489 child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes, including those online, in 2023.
Mr Musk’s barrage of attacks against the Prime Minister have dominated Westminster over recent days and led Sir Keir to accuse critics of spreading “lies and misinformation”.
He has defended his tenure as director of public prosecutions and claims he tackled child sexual abuse charges “head-on”.
The Conservatives accused Labour MPs of having “turned a blind eye to justice” for victims of grooming gangs after their amendment to the Government’s child protection Bill calling for another national inquiry was rejected, while Mr Musk described it as “unbelievable”.
On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would begin to implement Professor Alexis Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, with further details expected to be set out in the coming weeks.
