Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many child marriage protection orders were issued in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK is a world leader in the fight to stamp out the practice of forced marriage, with our dedicated Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad.
The new legislation which came into force in February this year is intended to proactively close potential loopholes and make prosecution under the existing law easier by removing the need to prove the use of coercion, which may require evidence from the victim. The FMU has undertaken a range of activity to raise awareness of the extended offence.
Data on convictions for criminal offences is published by the Ministry of Justice. The latest publication is to December 2022, before the extended offence came into force.
Additionally, we protect both adults and children with our Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPOs) and have criminalised the breach of FMPOs once in place. The number of forced marriage protection orders made in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021 and (4) 2022 can be found in the table attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of honour based violence due to forced marriage there were in the (a) UK and (b) devolved Administration in each of the last three years.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office holds data on the number of police recorded forced marriage offences in England and Wales. The data are given in the table. Police recorded offences in Northern Ireland and Scotland are the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government respectively.
As with all police recorded crime figures, these data only cover offences that were reported to and recorded by the police. It is recognised that force marriage is a hidden crime and victims can be reluctant to bring them to the attention of police or other authorities. These data, therefore, are likely to only represent a proportion of the actual forced marriage offences committed.
The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline and inbox.
We are working to increase reporting of this crime which is why the FMU has an extensive outreach programme to provide dedicated training and awareness raising sessions for professionals and communities across the country, including the police and social workers. In 2023, the FMU delivered training and awareness-raising activity to 3,656 police officers, social workers and other professionals. Victims and organisations are encouraged to report potential signs of forced marriage to professionals with safeguarding responsibilities.
Jul. 28 2023
Source Page: Prosecutors protect victims of forced marriage and honour crimeFound: Prosecutors protect victims of forced marriage and honour crime
Jul. 28 2023
Source Page: Prosecutors protect victims of forced marriage and honour crimeFound: Prosecutors protect victims of forced marriage and honour crime
Mar. 28 2024
Source Page: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023Found: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023
Jun. 20 2023
Source Page: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2022Found: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2022
Jul. 13 2011
Source Page: Family migration: a consultation. Consultation paper. 77 p.Found: or a marriage that is forced or is a sham.
Jun. 20 2023
Source Page: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2022Found: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2022
Mar. 04 2024
Source Page: Housing Benefit adjudication circulars 2024Found: Get emails about this page Documents A2/2024: Victims of forced
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the prevalence of arranged marriages in the UK.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government has not made a recent assessment on the prevalence of arranged marriages in the UK.
In an arranged marriage the families take a leading role in choosing the marriage partner, but the marriage is entered into freely by both parties.
This is in contrast to a forced marriage, where one or both people do not or cannot consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used to force them into the marriage.
It is also a forced marriage when anything is done to make someone marry before they turn 18, even if there is no pressure or abuse.
More information on forced marriage can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage