The number of sexual offences recorded by Devon and Cornwall Police has more than trebled since 2010, new figures show.

It comes as a report has found failures in the Home Office’s past leadership in tackling violence against women and girls.

Home Office figures show there were 6,215 sexual offences recorded by Devon and Cornwall Police in the year to September – up from 5,229 the year before.

It has more than trebled since 2009-10, when 1,681 sexual offences were recorded.

The gender of the victims is not available, although the Office for National Statistics has previously found over 80% were female.

In a recent report, the National Audit Office found 4.3% of women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales experienced sexual assault in the year to March, up from 3.4% in 2009-10.

Across the same period, incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls recorded by police rose from 34,000 to 123,000, although the NAO said this could partly be explained by improved recording of such crimes.

The NAO added government efforts in recent years have not improved outcomes for victims and said the Home Office "is not currently leading an effective cross-Government response".

Under the Conservatives, the Home Office had "historically underspent" its own budget allocated to the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy by an average of 15%, the watchdog said.

It added violence against women and girls is a "significant and growing problem" affecting one in 12 women, while Labour pledged to halve such violence in the next decade.

The NAO said to meet this target, the Home Office "will need to lead a co-ordinated, whole-system response".

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp defended the Conservatives’ record, telling Sky News: "It’s something which the last government did take incredibly seriously.

"Under successive home secretaries, there was a whole initiative established called Operation Soteria with the police, and actually working with academics to figure out the best way of identifying perpetrators of particularly rape and serious sexual assault and bring them to justice to increase the conviction rate."

He said there was a "cross-government taskforce" which looked at the justice system's response to rape, serious sexual assault and violence against women and girls, and there were "a succession of safeguarding ministers who were really committed to this".

According to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Operation Soteria was developed in response to national concern around the investigation of rape and serious sexual assault offences and the "increasing epidemic that is violence against women and girls".

The body says the programme helps support forces with the insight of "academic experts" and "practitioner knowledge".

A Home Office spokesperson said the report had looked at the previous government's "failure to deliver systemic change", and vowed Labour is "delivering a step-change in the Government's response".

They added: "Over the last six months, we have wasted no time in taking action to better protect victims and pursue perpetrators."

They said this includes new domestic abuse protection orders, the rollout of domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, and strengthening the police response to spiking and stalking.

"We will not stop until we have a system that protects victims, supports their journey to justice and holds perpetrators to account," they added.