There were 5,700 new cases of female genital mutilation recorded in England in 2015-16, the first annual statistics show

The figures, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and covering the period of April 2015 to March 2016, show that in 18 cases the practice had been undertaken in Britain. The age group for which FGM was most common was five- to nine-year-olds, accounting for 43% of the total number of cases where the age at the time of being cut was known. Women and girls born in Somalia accounted for 37% of all newly recorded cases of FGM with a known country of birth. Of the women and girls with a known country of birth, 90% were born in Africa. Of the total number of newly recorded cases, 43 involved women and girls who said they had been born in Britain.