Fifteen girls in Leicestershire and Rutland were raped during a three-month period of this year according to a report by the police and crime commissioner's office. 

In total 20 under 18s were referred to a sexual assault referral centre (Sarc) between June and August, with 18 of those referrals made by the police and two from social care. 

Four of the girls who were raped were children in care, four of the girls had learning difficulties and eight displayed self-harm behaviours. 

Across the whole of the Leicestershire and Rutland policing region in the 12 months to September there were 1,475 rapes reported. The force has a detection rate of 6.3 percent, meaning that victims in 93 per cent of reported cases did not have their perpetrator prosecuted. The force's target for detection is eight percent. 

The Leicestershire and Rutland police and crime panel discussed the issue on Monday, with a report from the commissioner's office saying that there had been 'significant improvements for delivering positive outcomes for victims of rape offences' and that he was 'satisfied with the support offered to victims', but in the meeting Conservative police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews (Con), said the situation as it stands is 'not acceptable'. 

Deputy mayor of Leicester City, Sarah Russell (Labour), criticised the police force. 

She said: "The figures in here are absolutely horrendous. I think it would be wrong to let this report go without saying just how awful they are. This is not a recent trend. We know this has been a massive problem for the force area for at least 15 years. There have been reports after reports. The chance of victim confidence improving when the detection rate is so low is almost impossible to imagine. 

"One of the challenges in this area is that even though the report is made and the detection is done, the ability to see that to a court hearing is incredibly difficult."  

The councillor suggested following Nottingham's lead and forming a consent coalition – which is a partnership of agencies which work to raise awareness of consent with young people. The commissioner, who has been in post since 2021, said he would look into it. 

He said: "We are painfully aware of how distressing it is to go and give evidence. I think we are prepared to do anything we can. I will certainly go to the Chief Constable on this. The situation as it stands is not acceptable and we will have to do more about it." 

Lizzie Starr, the commissioner's director of governance and performance said they flagged concerns about how the Leicestershire force was performing back in March and that two weeks ago the commissioner's office asked to link in further with the force to look at prevention activities. 

In July, the force commissioned a 'lightning review' to identify ways to increase its rape detection rate. Fourteen recommendations were made, including policy updates, a stronger focus on repeat victims and offenders, and greater use of technology to support victims. 

The commissioner's office is implementing a 12-month pilot scheme to provide additional crisis worker capacity to Sarc. 

The two counties' community safety partnerships have also commissioned a number of workshops and programmes on sexual violence education including in Rutland where a small group of girls has been identified to be at risk of criminal sexual exploitation due to substance misuse. 

It was agreed at the meeting for the police and crime panel to set up a subgroup to look at the issue and report back.