Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to record the number of incidents of hate crime against people with autistic spectrum disorders.

The police are already required to record hate crimes that target people with disabilities, which includes people with autistic spectrum disorders. This data is collected and published by the Home Office on a yearly basis. The most recent data shows an increase between 2016/17 and 2017/18 of 14% to 8,256 disability hate crimes. This is likely driven by improvements to police recording, but also an increase in victims feeling able to come forward.

This Government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously, which is why we published the Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016 and refreshed it in 2018. The refresh reaffirmed our commitment to protecting victims of hate crime, including increasing reporting, so that victims receive the support they need, and offenders are brought to justice.