Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps have been taken to work with faith leaders to increase the number of signatories to the declaration condemning female genital mutilation and to use that declaration to help drive cultural change against such mutilation since 2016.

Since publication of the Female Genital Mutilation Faith Declaration in 2014, over 250 representatives of faith communities have added their signatures, sending a clear message to communities across the UK that the practice is an extreme form of violence against women and girls and is not supported by any religious doctrine. We call on all faith communities across the UK to condemn the unacceptable practice of Female Genital Mutilation.