Children Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [ Lords ]

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Second Reading Committee debate: House of Commons
Monday 25th February 2019 General Committees

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate: the hon. Members for Erewash, for Mid Dorset and North Poole, and for Faversham and Mid Kent. I thank the hon. Member for Richmond Park for sponsoring the Bill, and for his detailed speech and obvious commitment to the issue.

The debate has in many ways been quite traumatic to listen to, but the cause is one on which we can all work together, as my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East made clear. The Bill addresses a barbaric practice that has no place in a modern society such as ours, but which unfortunately still exists. Female genital mutilation is a horrific abuse of children of all ages, particularly those who have not reached puberty. It can have a profound and devastating impact long into later life. In the short term, it causes severe pain, with the risk of excessive bleeding, infections and urinary issues, and possibly even death. In the longer term, it causes menstrual and vaginal problems, issues relating to sexual intercourse, and complications in childbirth.

According to overwhelming consensus in the medical profession, FGM has absolutely no health advantage. As the World Health Organisation puts it, there are “no…benefits”, but “only harm”. It is an abhorrent practice that constitutes a violation of the human rights of women and represents a stark reminder of the inequalities between sexes, with women cruelly and inhumanely discriminated against. Yet it still occurs. Some estimates suggest that more than 200 million women across the world have been victims of FGM. The World Health Organisation labelled it “A Global Concern”, concentrated in regions and communities across Africa, the middle east and Asia. However, as so many Members have said today, it happens right here in the UK.

Despite being illegal since 1985, statistics published by NHS Digital show that between April 2015 and March 2016, FGM was identified in 9,223 attendances at NHS trusts and GP practices, 6,080 of which were new cases. In the following year, 9,179 attendances included 5,391 new cases. The most recent statistics show 2,320 attendances in the first three months of 2018, of which 1,030 were newly recorded women or girls. However, given the known obstacles associated with reporting and recording FGM—the act is likely to be committed by a family member or an established and respected member of the community, for example—the real figure is likely to be even higher.

Female genital mutilation is occurring, yet prosecutions of those committing it are not. Clearly, the statistics paint a stark picture that shows that more must be done, which is what the Bill seeks to do by giving the courts the ability to include local authorities in protecting against FGM. Currently, female genital mutilation protection orders are the best device for acting against FGM. They allow a court to present prohibitions, restrictions or requirements, where it sees fit, to protect a girl who has already been or is at risk becoming a victim of FGM. Examples might be the prohibition of travel or passport surrender to prevent a girl at risk from being taken abroad for FGM. Use of such protection orders, however, appears minimal. Ministry of Justice figures show that only 205 FGM protection orders had been made up to the end of December 2017 since their introduction two and a half years earlier.

The Children Act, however, allows judges to make temporary care orders if they are concerned about a child’s health, with section 8(4) listing the areas in which that is applicable. For a child at risk of molestation, violence or a forced marriage, for example, judges can force the relevant local authority to intervene and to provide interim care to ensure the child’s safety, but FGM is not listed under that section, so judges cannot do the same for young women faced with that repugnant practice. The Bill seeks to amend that apparent oversight, listing FGM as one of the stand-alone statutes in section 8(4) of the Act and allowing judges to intervene directly and to involve local authorities in FGM cases.

That proposal, as many have said, is certainly no panacea for the widespread practice of FGM in the UK—much more needs to be done to eradicate it. Does the Minister agree that we need to tackle the cultural conventions in communities in which FGM is commonplace through education and awareness? Does she agree that confidence must be given to members of those communities to speak out against those who perform such operations? Will she tell us what steps have been taken to increase the number of prosecutions of those who are identified?

The Bill is certainly a welcome step in the right direction. As my colleague Baroness Kennedy said in the other place, at the very least

“it adds to the armoury of those who hear these cases”.—[Official Report, House of Lords, 20 July 2018; Vol. 792, c. 1420.]

That can only be a good thing. It gives judges and local authorities greater scope to address and, crucially, prevent FGM, by adding an extra tool.

It is incumbent on all in Parliament to do what we can to tackle the devastatingly damaging practice of FGM. In that spirit, the Opposition will certainly not stand in the way of a reasonable Bill such as this, which we welcome as it seeks to do just that.

Children Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Monday 11th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith). The Bill passed through Committee with a large degree of consensus. Although I pressed the Minister on some issues, as I will today, it was pleasing that when something of this magnitude came before us we could seek consensus to bring about change.

Once again, we have an opportunity to discuss the Bill and what more we can do in the House to tackle female genital mutilation, because it is an abhorrent act, an abuse of children of all ages, and one we must endeavour to eradicate. The impact on women and girls is devastating and can still be felt long into later life. In the short term, there are risks of severe pain, infections and excessive bleeding. In the years following, there can be complications relating to childbirth, sexual intercourse, and menstrual and vaginal problems. I repeat the words of the World Health Organisation in saying that there is “no benefit, only harm”. Despite that, instances of FGM in the UK are occurring, which is where the Bill fits in, so I shall again outline Labour’s position on it.

To give further power to judges to intervene directly in instances of FGM with temporary care orders through a technical amendment to the Children Act 1989 is a reasonable and sensible action. Female genital mutilation protection orders are currently the best tool to tackle FGM, but allowing local authorities to provide interim care and ensure the safety of those at risk is a welcome extra step. The ability for local authorities to act in this way is currently present for cases in which a child is at risk of abuse, molestation, forced marriage or other abuses, so it seems only right and proper that it should also be present if girls are at risk of FGM.

As it stands, it is difficult to know the full extent of FGM in the UK and just how many people are affected. NHS Digital has produced experimental statistics, but many recorded cases are not necessarily newly committed instances of FGM. Estimates are significantly higher than the figures produced, and we know that, given the obstacles associated with reporting and recording FGM—for example, the act is likely to be committed by a family member—scores of cases go unreported. I therefore press the Minister to outline what the Government are doing to provide more accurate data and recording of FGM occurring in the UK, to help us fully to understand the extent of the problem.

Just as the scale of FGM in the UK is likely to be larger than it seems initially, so the Government must do more to tackle it. Last month, we saw the first prosecution for FGM in the UK. With estimates of those affected in the tens of thousands, it seems staggering that that is the sole example of a prosecution for carrying out the act. The Minister has spoken in the past about strengthening the laws on FGM in a number of ways, to increase protection for girls at risk, but clearly such measures fall short when compared with the numbers actually prosecuted. Just as they identify who is at risk, will the Minister tell me what the Government are doing to identify the perpetrators of this barbaric practice and to bring them to justice?

I welcome the Minister’s previous comments on the cross-departmental approach that the Government are taking to tackling FGM. Such an approach is necessary and appropriate for a problem that must be tackled not only through prosecutions, but through education and by tackling the culture and assumptions that lead to FGM, as Members have said. Will the Minister tell us more about what the Government are doing to increase education and awareness of FGM, and about the ways in which schools and local groups in at-risk communities are being involved?

Does the Minister recognise that it is cuts to other Departments, much like those to the Ministry of Justice, that have ruined the vital provisions on which many vulnerable women at risk of FGM depend? Our NHS is strained at every level, after years of underfunding; schools are under-resourced and understaffed; local authority budgets have been slashed to the bone; and there is a catastrophic shortfall in the provision of children and women’s services. These frontline services are best placed to identify, intervene and prevent FGM, but they have been decimated by the Government’s near decade of austerity. What assessment, if any, have the Government made of the impact of the austerity agenda on the tackling of FGM? What extra provision are the Government affording the services tasked with addressing it?

Ultimately, this is a welcome Bill. Despite the efforts of a certain Member on the Government Benches, we are pleased to see it brought before the House again. It provides an extra tool for local authorities and judges to fight FGM and prevent its occurrence. As my colleague Baroness Massey said in the other place, at the very least it

“adds to the armoury of those who hear these cases, and that can only be to the good.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 20 July 2018; Vol. 792, c. 1420.]

Alone, though, it will not be enough to protect the many girls throughout the UK who are at risk of this barbaric abuse. It must be met with greater action by the Government, and I hope the Minister commits to just that this evening.