Glossary

What the terms mean

The terms and abbreviations used on this website and in the Branch Packs, in plain English.

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A

Asylum support: Housing and/or money from the Home Office for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

Branch Pack: A Women For Restore safety information pack with local and national data for one constituency.
By-election: An election held to fill a single seat that has become empty between full elections.

Cause of concern: A formal warning from inspectors that a force must fix a serious problem quickly.
Census: A count of everyone in England and Wales every ten years. The latest was 2021.
CEOP: Child Exploitation and Online Protection, part of the National Crime Agency, where online grooming can be reported.
Charge rate: The share of recorded crimes that have led to a charge or summons.
Child protection plan: Made when a child is judged at risk of significant harm.
Child sexual exploitation: Abuse where a child is manipulated or coerced into sexual activity, often in return for something.
Clare's Law: Lets you ask the police whether a partner, or the partner of someone you know, has a history of abuse or violence.
CMC: Centre for Migration Control, a campaign group that analyses official data.
Community Safety Partnership: The council, police and other services working together on local crime.
Contingency accommodation: Hotels and large sites used when normal asylum housing runs out.
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service. Decides whether a suspect is charged with serious offences and prosecutes the case.
Crime Survey (CSEW): Crime Survey for England and Wales. Asks people about crimes they have experienced, including those never reported to police.
Crown Court: Hears the most serious cases, including rape, with a jury.

Dispersal accommodation: Flats and shared houses for asylum seekers.
Domestic abuse: Abuse by a partner, ex-partner or family member, including coercive control.
DVPO / DAPO: Court orders that can bar an abuser from the home and from contact. DAPOs are replacing DVPOs.

EHCP: Education, Health and Care Plan: a legal plan setting out support for a child with special educational needs.
Evidential difficulties: A case closed because there is not enough evidence or the victim does not support further action.

First preferences: In elections where voters rank candidates (as in Scotland), the votes for each candidate as voters' first choice.
FNO: Foreign national offender.
FOI: Freedom of Information. Anyone can ask a public body for information. It should reply within 20 working days.

Grooming: When someone builds a young person's trust in order to abuse them, face to face or online.
Group-based child sexual exploitation: Abuse of children by two or more people acting together, as with grooming gangs.

HMICFRS (HMIC): The inspectorate that checks how well police forces do their job. Before 2017 it was called HMIC.
HMO: House in multiple occupation: shared by 3 or more people from more than one household. Larger ones need a licence.

ISVA: Independent sexual violence adviser, who supports victims, including through court.
IWF: Internet Watch Foundation, the UK charity that finds and removes child sexual abuse images online.

MAPPA: How police, probation and prisons jointly manage sexual and violent offenders living in the community.
MARAC: A meeting where police, councils, health and charities plan how to protect people at highest risk of domestic abuse.
Median: The middle value: half are above it and half below.
Missing episode: Each time a child goes missing. One child can have many.
MoJ: Ministry of Justice, responsible for courts, prisons and probation.

National Transfer Scheme: Moves unaccompanied children from councils with many to councils with fewer.
Net migration: People arriving to live in the UK for a year or more, minus those leaving.

ONS: Office for National Statistics, the UK's official statistics body.
Outcome: What happened to a recorded crime, such as a charge, a caution or closure for lack of evidence.

PCC: Police and Crime Commissioner. Elected to set a police force's priorities and budget and hold the chief constable to account.
PEEL: HMICFRS's regular inspection of each police force, graded from outstanding to inadequate.
Per 1,000 / per 100,000: A rate that lets areas or groups of different sizes be compared fairly.
PPC: Prospective parliamentary candidate: someone chosen to stand for a party at the next general election.
Projection: What would happen if current trends continue. Not a prediction.
Provisional / revised: Early figures that may change when more data comes in.

Recorded crime: Crimes logged by the police. Changes in reporting and recording affect the totals.
Registered sex offender: Someone who must tell police where they live and other details. MAPPA calls them Category 1 offenders.
Report Remove: A free tool from Childline and the IWF that helps young people get nude images of themselves taken down.
Returns: People leaving the UK under Home Office processes, including enforced, voluntary and port returns.

Safeguarding Children Partnership: The council, police and NHS, jointly responsible for keeping children safe in an area.
SARC: Sexual assault referral centre. Medical care, forensic examination and support after rape, with or without police.
SDS40: The early release scheme from September 2024: many prisoners released at 40% of their sentence instead of 50%.
Sextortion: Blackmail using sexual images, often of a young person, to demand money or more images.
SHPO: Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Restricts what a sex offender can do, such as internet use or contact with children.
Silent Solution: If you call 999 from a mobile and can't speak, press 55 when prompted.
SOPN: Statement of Persons Nominated: the council's official list of candidates on the ballot.
Stalking Protection Order: A court order banning a suspected stalker from contact. Breaking it is a crime.

Temporary accommodation: Housing a council provides to homeless households until they find a settled home.

UASC: Unaccompanied asylum-seeking child: under 18 and in the UK without a parent or guardian.

VAWG: Violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking and harassment.

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