NHS hospitals will have to submit data on the number of girls and women who have suffered female genital mutilation (FGM), the government has announced.

The announcement comes after a senior Metropolitan Police officer said young girls who have suffered FGM were being failed by doctors who do not report cases to the police.

Met FGM team head Detective Superintendent Jason Ashwood said: "It's clear that when professionals are seeing people who are survivors or at risk of FGM, it's not being referred to police.

"What we need is to get our people in the public sector to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities."

As part of a range of measures aimed at targeting the barbaric practice it will be mandatory for hospitals to tell the Department of Health on a monthly basis of any cases of FGM they see.

Hospitals will have to record if a patient has had FGM, if there is a family history of FGM and if a woman has undergone a procedure related to FGM.

The data will be held centrally and shared with other government departments and the police to build up a picture of the extent of FGM across Britain.

Latest figures suggest that as many as 66,000 women in England and Wales have undergone FGM and that an estimated 23,000 girls under the age of 15 are at risk.

The National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has established a specialist helpline aimed at tackling the scourge of FGM.

The charity said that it had received 153 calls since the helpline was set up last June and was referring increasing numbers of cases to police and children's services.

Anyone who is worried can contact the FGM Helpline on (0800) 028-3550 or email [email protected]