Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Law Commission will publish its consultation paper on hate crime; and whether the review has been delayed from its original time frame of 18 months.

The Law Commission continues to make good progress on the Hate Crime Consultation Paper, although some delay is inevitable given the impact of Covid-19.

The Law Commissioners are considering when to publish consultations on a case-by-case basis, based on whether they will be able to undertake sufficiently open and transparent consultation during the current circumstances. That is an essential aspect of the way they work. It is particularly important in relation to the Hate Crime project.

The Commissioners are keeping the situation under review and they will announce their decision on publication as soon as they can.