Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many girls under the legal age of marriage but who had been married abroad were brought back to the United Kingdom in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The UK is a world leader in tackling forced marriage. It is child abuse, domestic abuse and a form of violence against women and men and a serious abuse of human rights.

The government does not hold data on the number of girls under the legal age of marriage who have been brought back to the UK. However, the government does hold information on the number of cases for which the forced marriage unit has provided advice and support. This information is in the table below. It is important to note that this statistic does not represent the number of forced marriage cases, but the number of calls and emails initiating contact with the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) about a victim or potential victim. Forced marriage cases are not necessarily reported to the FMU; through the unit’s outreach work, social workers and the police are becoming more skilled at dealing with forced marriage cases and so may not need to involve the unit. Where a case is being appropriately dealt with there is no obligation to inform the FMU.

To provide more information on the nature of the assistance provided in all these cases, including those which have involved repatriation, would involve a disproportionate cost.