PARLIAMENT’S women and equalities committee launched a probe today into sexual harassment of women and girls in public places.

The inquiry will focus on streets and bars, probing the effect sexual harassment in public places has on women and girls and how to prevent it.

Committee chair Maria Miller said: “We are putting a spotlight on a problem that seems to be so routine in women’s lives, and yet has received very little attention in public policy.”

A YouGov survey from last year revealed that 85 per cent of women between ages 18-24 had experienced unwanted sexual attention and 45 per cent were inappropriately touched in public.

Reports of sexual offences on trains have more than doubled in the past five years.