Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government provided to the Female Genital Mutilation Helpline in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16; how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by that helpline; how many calls that helpline has received; and how much funding the Government plans to allocate to that helpline in financial year 2016-17.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) runs the UK’s 24-hour female genital mutilation helpline in partnership with the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police Service. The Government does not fund the helpline, but works closely with the NSPCC to raise awareness of the helpline. A total of 1,129 calls and enquiries have been received by the helpline between November 2013 and the end of January 2016.