February 12, 2016 9:00am by David Farrar

What has happened to England?

A case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is reported in England every 109 minutes, official health figures show.

Some 2421 instances of mutilation were reported from April 2015 to September 2015 – the latest full six months of figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Experts say the figures, released on the eve of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on Saturday, are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

Plan UK is a charity that campaigns against the practice and collated the figures.

Its chief executive, Tanya Barron, said: ‘FGM has been a hidden danger threatening girls in the UK and around the world – only now is the full scale becoming clear.’

But she warned there were still many ‘unseen, unheard cases’ that didn’t show up in official statistics.

One case every 109 minutes. That is appalling. There should be zero tolerance for this, and prosecutions for those responsible.