Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many British girls were sent abroad to marry in 2014.

Not all forced marriage cases are reported to the British Government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), which makes it impossible to make an accurate assessment on how many British girls may have been sent abroad to marry.

British girls may be sent abroad to marry with their full consent in the form of an arranged marriage. If the girl does not have the right to say no this becomes a forced marriage. The UK is a world leader in tackling forced (and early) marriage. It is child abuse, domestic abuse and a form of violence against women and men and a serious abuse of human rights.

The FMU dealt with 1267 cases in 2014. 77% of cases dealt with by the FMU in 2014 involve an overseas element, which means the victim is at risk of, or has been, taken overseas.

The number of cases the FMU deals with does not represent the number of British girls (and boys) being sent overseas for a forced marriage, but the number of calls and emails initiating contact with the FMU about a victim or potential victim.