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NHS figures show 467 newly identified cases of girls and women needing treatment after female genital mutilation in England last month. A further 1,279 people, who had already been identified, were receiving treatment according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) data. It is the first time the NHS has collected figures on the criminal act. The children's charity the NSPCC said the numbers were "shocking". The cutting of girls' genitalia has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but nobody has been convicted in the courts. The HSCIC data is an attempt to understand the scale of the problem. It shows the crime is happening in all regions in England although half of the cases were in London. 'Scandal' Kingsley Manning, the chairman of the HSCIC, said: "This is the first national collection of NHS data about numbers of FGM cases and we will continue to collect and publish these figures. "Having accurate data about this crime is an important step in helping prevent its occurrence in the future." Estimates suggest that up to 170,000 women and girls living in the UK may have undergone FGM. In July, a group of MPs said failing to tackle FGM was a "national scandal" and blamed a "misplaced concern for cultural sensitivities" for inaction. In a conference later that month, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that parents, in England and Wales, would face prosecution if they failed to stop their daughters undergoing FGM.