Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what progress has been made on increasing the number of prosecutions for disability hate crime.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has taken a number of steps to improve its prosecution of all strands of hate crime. Specifically they have delivered mandatory face to face disability hate crime training for all prosecutors to deal more effectively with disability hate crime cases.

As a result, the CPS is prosecuting, and convicting, more defendants of disability hate crime than ever before. In 2015-16, the CPS completed 941 disability hate crime prosecutions, an increase of 275 on the previous year.

The proportion of successfully completed prosecutions with an announced and recorded sentence uplift increased to 11.9% from 5.4% the previous year.

The CPS will shortly be publishing a public policy statement on disability hate crime and a Support Guide for victims and witnesses with disabilities.