Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to increase the effectiveness of prosecutions for hate crimes.

Tackling hate crime is a priority for the CPS and it has taken a number of steps to improve the effectiveness of prosecutions.

The CPS Hate Crime Annual Report shows that the proportion of cases where the CPS was successful in achieving uplifted sentences for hate crime perpetrators increased dramatically last year. The proportion rose from 33.8% in 2015/16, to 52.2% in 2016/17 – reaching 58.2% in the final quarter.

The CPS has delivered mandatory face to face disability hate crime training and racially and religiously aggravated hate crime training, and is in the process of delivering homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime training. In August 2017, the CPS published revised legal guidance for prosecutors on all strands of hate crime. The revised legal guidance and training support prosecutors to more effectively deal with hate crime cases.