age of 13 in the UK are at risk from FGM, the report said.

The practice has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but the first prosecutions - which are currently ongoing - were not until this year.

In France, however, "a large number of successful prosecutions has played a key role in discouraging the practice", the committee said.

The report said the police and Crown Prosecution Service had "historically been far too passive in their approach by waiting for survivors to come forward and report".

The MPs called for prosecutions to show the issue was being taken seriously in the UK and the implementation of a "comprehensive and fully-resourced" national action plan for dealing with it.

The record of healthcare professionals in referring cases to the authorities was described as "extremely poor".Comfort Momoh, a public health specialist at St Thomas's Hospital, in London, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was a "lack of training" and a "lack of awareness" around the issue among health professionals.

She said: "If our so-called professionals don't have the knowledge, if our so-called professionals don't know how to identify groups who might be at risk, how do we expect the community to report cases to us?"

Prime Minister David Cameron is to host the UK's first Girl Summit, aimed at ending FGM within a generation, this summer, he said.