Correspondence Mar. 10 2024
Committee: Criminal Justice CommitteeFound: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 Commencement Letter from Murray, Blackburn, Mackenzie
Nov. 30 2023
Source Page: Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group minutes : June2023Found: Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group minutes : June2023
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle hate crime in Solihull constituency.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government is clear that all forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable. We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity and expect the police to fully investigate these abhorrent offences and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – that is why we have the highest number of police officers on record in England and Wales. Funding for West Midlands Police will be up to £789.4 million for 2024/25, an increase of up to £50 million when compared to 2023/24. As of 31 March 2023, West Midlands Force recruited 1,376 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 1,218 officers. The deployment of all officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables.
The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also continue to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime. The Hub provides expert advice to police forces to support them in investigating these despicable offences.
Correspondence Mar. 15 2024
Committee: Criminal Justice CommitteeFound: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 Letter from the Convener to Police Scotland, 15 March
Nov. 20 2023
Source Page: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: information noteFound: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: information note
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle the causes of changes in the levels of hate crime against LGBT+ people.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target transgender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. We expect the police fully to investigate these abhorrent offences and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 6% reduction in sexual orientation hate crimes. Whilst an 11% increase in transgender hate crime was seen, and this may partly be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvements in police recording along with increased victim willingness to come forward.
We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – that is why we have the highest number of police officers on record in England and Wales.
The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.
The Government is providing over £3m of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic based bullying.
We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime and will respond to the remaining recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Jamie Wallis (Conservative - Bridgend)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission report Hate crime laws: Final report, HC 942, published in December 2021 on hate crime towards LGBTQ+ people.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime. The Government will respond to the remaining recommendations in due course.
Mentions:
1: Stephen Doughty (LAB - Cardiff South and Penarth) We all ought to be shocked.This is Hate Crime Awareness Week, and the reality is that hate crime remains - Speech Link
2: Stephen Doughty (LAB - Cardiff South and Penarth) and investing in local hate crime prevention programmes. - Speech Link
3: Angela Eagle (Lab - Wallasey) Hate crime against trans people is up 186%. - Speech Link
4: Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) No point of view can possibly excuse hate crime. - Speech Link
Dec. 29 2023
Source Page: Guidance document for Police Scotland recording hate crime: FOI releaseFound: Guidance document for Police Scotland recording hate crime: FOI release
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with refence to the Answer of 21 June 2023 to Question 189060 on Hate Crime: LGBT+ People, when he plans to publish the Government’s response the Law Commission's report entitled Hate crime laws: Final report, published on 7 December 2021.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April this year, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime and we will respond to the remaining recommendations shortly.