Female Genital Mutilation

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, for securing this very important debate and for introducing it so effectively. She rightly magnified what she described as the cries of those who are demanding that this terrible practice is brought to an end. Like other noble Lords, I am struck by the level of concern in this House and across Parliament. The noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, used to be something of a lone voice in this area in the House of Lords. I hope she is pleased that the voices are now multiplying, not least in the media, including, as the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, mentioned, in “Casualty”.

In order to tackle FGM, it is critical that we raise awareness. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Patel, that we need to start today, not tomorrow. We cannot leave it until tomorrow. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, that the Government are absolutely clear that FGM is a barbaric violation of human rights. We are entirely committed to tackling FGM, both here in the UK and overseas. That is why, as my noble friends Lady Barker and Lord Loomba said, the Department for International Development is investing £35 million to tackle FGM in at least 15 of the most affected countries with the objective of reducing the incidence of FGM by 30% in at least 10 countries over the next five years. As my noble friend Lord Loomba said, my honourable friend Lynne Featherstone, both as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DfID and as the Government’s champion to combat violence against women and girls, has seized this issue with enormous determination.

My noble friend Lady Hodgson showed how deeply rooted these practices are but how there is hope of change within those communities. I point out to my noble friend that DfID’s approach is indeed to support an African-led movement towards ending FGM. We recognise the importance of this. We are taking an approach that combines community-based work with legislation and we are working with the UN joint programme on exactly this approach. My noble friend is right to highlight that.

My noble friend Lady Barker asked about linking FGM with work on the prevention of forced marriage. She is right to say that there are parallels between these two harmful practices. In DfID’s international work, where FGM and child marriage co-exist, they are addressed simultaneously at the community level. My noble friend also asked about work identifying men within the regions where FGM takes place, and, of course, this is relevant within the United Kingdom, too, to encourage others to oppose FGM. We fully recognise that and our experience in Africa shows that men’s involvement is very important. In most countries where cutting occurs, the majority of boys and men, when we are engaged with them, think that FGM should end. That is a key to moving this forward.

Significant progress is being made, which my noble friend Lady Hodgson referred to and which may reassure my noble friend Lady Barker. There have been declines in the practice in certain areas. The noble Lord, Lord Parekh, was quite right to highlight the countries where there is a high incidence and those where it is much lower, and to say that we need to concentrate on those high-incidence countries.

The international investment will also reap dividends in tackling FGM in the United Kingdom by supporting the diaspora communities in advocating for change in their countries of origin and developing a global social change communications programme. This will complement a raft of action that we are taking in the United Kingdom to end FGM. Most noble Lords concentrated particularly on the United Kingdom, although often setting it in the context of what is happening in other countries. I wish to make it absolutely clear to the noble Baronesses, Lady Cox and Lady Thornton, that we identify FGM as child abuse, and political sensitivities must not get in the way of eradicating this illegal practice. I can assure the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, that culture can never be allowed to trump the law.

To further improve our understanding in the United Kingdom, the Home Office is part-funding a new study into the prevalence rates of FGM in England and Wales, to be published in March. The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, asked whether we really need it. The last study of this kind dates back to 2007 and estimated that some 20,000 girls could be at risk of FGM every year. We can take forward all sorts of measures that we know we need, but it also helps to get a better sense of what the evidence is now.

The Department of Health is working with the Health & Social Care Information Centre to look at how best the NHS can collect and share data to build a better picture on prevalence from across the NHS. The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, asked about the meeting that my honourable friend Jane Ellison at the Department of Health chaired on Monday with experts from FGM clinics, police and key charity organisations. She set out a feasibility study on collecting data and asked the group to help take that forward. That will all feed in to the action that we are taking.

Internationally, UNICEF has published a report casting additional light on how the practice is changing in the 29 countries where it is concentrated and on the progress made since its first report in 2005. It is important that these new insights inform the design of policies and programmes, both in countries where it has been practised for generations and in areas where it is relatively new and associated with immigration. I hope that helps to reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, that the evidence is there for a useful purpose and not at all to delay action. The Government recognise that, in order to tackle FGM here in the UK, we need to put prevention at the heart of our work. We need all parts of the system—criminal justice, education, health, housing and benefits—to work together to identify, protect and support victims and to bring perpetrators to justice. Indeed, noble Lords around the House were making that case.

The noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, raised the issue of routine examinations of girls to check for FGM. From birth until they leave school, children and young people are routinely investigated by healthcare staff in the Healthy Child programme, which covers England. Prevention and safeguarding underpin this programme. Noble Lords will have noted what my noble friend Lord Howe said. I am sure also that, as discussions occur within the Department of Health about how best to take this forward, the points that noble Lords have made will be pursued.

We have distributed more than 40,000 leaflets and posters and have completed a pilot on A Statement Opposing Female Genital Mutilation, a pocket-sized leaflet designed to be used when travelling abroad. We sent out more than 37,000 of these leaflets during the pilot, and evaluation responses have told us that it has been widely accepted by communities affected by FGM and that it is a valuable resource to help practitioners start conversations about FGM. I have seen a copy of the leaflet and am very happy to supply a copy to noble Lords who wish to see it.

In addition, a dedicated FGM helpline hosted by the NSPCC was launched in the summer. A specially trained team is on hand to receive calls from professionals and members of the public, either victims or potential victims of FGM, and from friends or relatives concerned about somebody who might be at risk. Noble Lords may be interested to know that, as of last week, there have been 132 calls to the helpline, 55 of which were referred to the relevant police force. The European Commission is also stepping up on this. It has announced funding of €3.7 million to spread a clear message about zero tolerance of all forms of violence against women and girls, including FGM. We have bid for €300,000 from this fund.

We have published FGM multi-agency guidelines for front-line professionals to raise awareness and help safeguard girls and women from abuse. We will shortly be providing local areas with a resource pack to emphasise what works in tackling FGM and to encourage commissioners of services to consider measures that they could put in place to prevent and tackle FGM.

I fully understand the frustration that there has still not been a prosecution for FGM in this country. However, I am greatly encouraged by the renewed commitment of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to overcome these barriers and the DPP’s assessment that it is only a matter of time before a perpetrator is brought to justice. I hear what the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, and others have said. It is extremely useful that this debate is taking place tonight because I can inform the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, and other noble Lords that my honourable friend Norman Baker at the Home Office is meeting the DPP tomorrow about this issue, and I will feed back to him the issues that we have discussed tonight.

This has been a passionate debate. It is very clear that we can and must eradicate this terrible practice. I assure noble Lords that we understand that. We are working on this internationally in an unprecedented way and we are pushing aside all the boulders in the way in the United Kingdom. I am sure that the cogency of this case will not be lost on the DPP and others working in this field.