The government has vowed to confront the practice of breast-ironing, calling it child abuse and saying the police should prosecute offenders under assault laws.

In a written parliamentary statement following Guardian revelations that the abusive practice was spreading in the UK, the Home Office said it was committed to challenging the cultural attitudes behind all “honour-based abuse”, but gave no indication it would legislate.

“Breast-ironing is child abuse and it is illegal,” the equalities minister, Susan Williams wrote in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by the cross-bench peer Alex Carlile. “No one should suffer because of who they are or which community they are born into.”

British Border Force officers at ports and airports are trained to look for signs of those at risk of abuse and conduct regular joint operations with the police to raise awareness with potential victims of honour-based abuse, including breast-ironing, Lady Williams said.

“While there is no specific offence of breast-ironing, the police have a range of other offences at their disposal to deal with any cases they encounter,” she added. “This includes offences of common assault, actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm. There are also specific offences of child cruelty and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.”

Lord Carlile said the government position was a clear acceptance that breast ironing is a series offence. “What we need now is for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to gather evidence and bring cases,” he told the Guardian.

The minister’s statements came after the Guardian revealed anecdotal evidence of dozens of recent cases of the practice, in which a girl’s chest is “ironed” with a hot stone to delay breast formation.

One woman living in the suburbs of an English city told how she started ironing her daughter’s chest at the first sign of puberty. The child developed bruising and the mother was questioned by police, before being released with a caution.

The police can prosecute offenders under assault laws, Williams said. “There are also specific offences of child cruelty and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment,” she noted.

The perpetrators, usually mothers, consider the practice a traditional measure that protects girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape. In west Africa, where the idea is thought to have originated, perpetrators have told the Guardian that the aim is to delay breast development so as to forestall sexual activity in pre-teen girls.

Medical experts and victims regard it as child abuse that could lead to physical and psychological scars, infections, inability to breastfeed, deformities and breast cancer.

Community workers in London, Yorkshire, Essex and the West Midlands have all reported cases of breast-ironing, but the custom is extremely secretive and there is no official data on how widespread it is.

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Police have said they will prosecute, but can do little without allegations and witnesses coming forward. Some experts say a specific law against breast-ironing could help, citing a similar experience with the criminalisation of forced marriage. But the government has indicated it is not minded to legislate.

One activist who was a victim in childhood, Margaret Nyuydzewira, has estimated at least 1,000 women and girls have been subjected to the abuse in the UK. There has been no systematic study or formal data collection exercise.

The government has previously said it is “absolutely committed” to stamping out the practice.