Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the reporting of LGBT+ hate crimes.

Increases in police recorded hate crime have been partly driven by general improvements in crime recording, better identification of what constitutes a hate crime by the police and increased victim willingness to come forward.

This is positive and reflects the hard work that has gone in to ensuring police can target their resources and understand the scale of the challenge, and that victims get the support they need.

The Government’s new strategy for tackling hate crime will be published shortly. This strategy will set out steps to increase the reporting of all forms of hate crime – including hate crimes targeting sexual orientation or transgender identity – building on our achievements under the 2016-20 Hate Crime Action Plan.