Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of reasons for the recent rise in recorded hate crimes; and whether the Government has plans to identify crimes committed against people from alternative sub-cultures as hate crimes.

The increases in recorded hate crime is thought to be driven by general improvements by the police in how they record crime, better identification of hate crimes, willingness of victims to come forward, and a genuine increase in these offences around certain events such as the EU Referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017.

We have recently published a refreshed Hate Crime Action Plan. As part of this, we have asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of the coverage and approach of current hate crime legislative provisions. This will include consideration of whether there should be additional protected characteristics, which could include alternative sub-cultures.