This is important. A majority of the women we spoke to at our rape gang inquiry had at some stage been subject to attempted overseas trafficking by their rapists. Please think about that. Think about what these survivors were subject to on British soil. Now imagine what that would look like in some Pakistani village. The most wicked evil imaginable. Our inquiry holds deep and evidenced concerns that there are countless women currently being held overseas as sex slaves. I have pressed with Government with question after question on this. Here’s a look at some of their answers from the Home Office. This is a long read, so please stay with me… Firstly, how many girls are currently listed as missing, broken down by local authority? “The Home Office does not hold this data centrally.” How? How can the Home Office not even try to understand the number of missing girls? They don’t know, and quite obviously they don’t care. This is SO basic. But they do not hold the data. How can they even begin to plan when they don't understand the scale of the problem? Next. I'm told that.. “The Home Office does not collect data on police investigations following an NRM (National Referral Mechanism) referral” But the minister tells me they are “continually looking to improve the quality and provision of modern slavery statistics.” They at least admit there is an issue, but this is incompetence beyond belief. How many people convicted of human trafficking or sexual exploitation offences in each of the last three calendar years were foreign nationals at the time of conviction? I’m told the Home Office does not collect “disaggregated data on arrests or convictions for human trafficking or sexual exploitation alongside an individual’s nationality or immigration status.” I then asked for the worst offending nationalities. Again, no data collected. WHY NOT?! I tried the Ministry of Justice for the same data. “Criminal Courts data concerning nationality is not collated by the Ministry of Justice. Data on nationality is not operationally required to progress a case and deliver a justice outcome.” Would it not be a wise idea to collect this nationality data to better understand how to tackle it? Another to Jess Phillips. I asked if her Department will publish all information it holds on child sexual exploitation committed by illegal migrants? “The information you have requested is not available from published statistics and there is no immediate intention to publish them.” There’s a shock. One more. How many people were (a) charged and (b) convicted for offences related to human trafficking or sexual exploitation following National Referral Mechanism referrals in each of the last three calendar years. “The Home Office does not collect data on police investigations specifically following an NRM referral” “Given this, we are unable to provide the information you have requested.” The total lack of any desire to investigate this is astonishing. I am using every tool available to me to push this. I tabled a motion in Parliament on rape gang overseas trafficking. It has attracted cross-party support - from Conservatives, Northern Irish, independents and even one Reform MP (Andrew Rosindell) and one Lib Dem MP. We are calling on the Government to initiate, as a matter of urgency, a full and properly resourced national investigation into the alleged overseas trafficking of victims connected to organised sexual exploitation. This is the unspoken scandal of the decade. We must all continue to push for urgent and comprehensive action.