Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the extent of the under-reporting of hate crimes.

The Crime Survey of England and Wales estimated that there were 222,000 hate crimes on average each year from 2012/13 to 2014/15. This represents a decrease of 56,000 since the previous period covered by the survey. At the same time, the number of hate crimes recorded by the police rose from 44,471 in 2013/14 to 52,528 in 2014/15. This increase in recorded crime is welcome as it is likely to reflect improved police practice and victim confidence in coming forward to report crimes.

The difference between the crime survey figures and the police recorded figures shows that hate crimes continue to be significantly under-reported. The Hate Crime Action Plan published on 26 July 2016 includes action to increase the reporting of hate crime, including making greater use of third party reporting centres.