May. 09 2024
Source Page: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023Found: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023
May. 09 2024
Source Page: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023Found: Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2023
Dec. 03 2010
Source Page: Forced marriage and learning disabilities: multi-agency practice guidelines. 32 p.Found: Forced marriage and learning disabilities: multi-agency practice guidelines. 32 p.
Jul. 02 2009
Source Page: Multi-agency practice guidelines: Handling cases of Forced Marriage. 105 p.Found: Multi-agency practice guidelines: Handling cases of Forced Marriage. 105 p.
Jul. 20 2009
Source Page: Forced Marriage Case Handling guide for MPs and constituency offices. 13 p.Found: Forced Marriage Case Handling guide for MPs and constituency offices. 13 p.
Nov. 13 2008
Source Page: Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 - relevant third party. Response to consultation. 59 p.Found: Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 - relevant third party.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many professionals the Forced Marriage Unit delivered training to in 2023; and how many people took the Forced Marriage Unit’s “Awareness of Forced Marriage” free online course in 2023.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2023, the Forced Marriage Unit delivered training to a total of 3657 professionals through their bespoke training and workshops.
We currently do not have the figure for how many people took the free online course in 2023 - these will be released in due course. In 2022, 5,029 people from a wide range of professions took the Government's "Awareness of Forced Marriage" free online course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has taken steps with international partners to address the incidence of forced marriage of young girls and women from religious minorities in Ethiopia; and whether he has had recent discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart on this issue.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is committed to stepping up our international leadership on child marriage, to give girls a greater say over their bodies and futures. We are a champion of the UN Global Programme to End Child Marriage and we have supported over 140,000 adolescent girls in Ethiopia with interventions to prevent and respond to child marriage.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how (a) much funding and (b) many full-time equivalent staff have been allocated to the Forced Marriage Unit in each financial year since its foundation; and how many cases have been reported to that unit in each of those years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) is jointly funded by the Home Office and FCDO. It currently has six full time staff, two joint heads (one from each department) and four case workers. The Unit's operating costs including staff time, outreach activity and casework are funded through the departmental budgets of its parent organisations.
The FMU publishes annual statistics, including on the total number of cases per year, online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forced-marriage-unit-statistics
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) convictions, (b) prosecutions, (c) arrests and (d) live, ongoing criminal investigations there were for the new crime of arranging for a child to marry between the introduction of the Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Minimum Age) Act 2022 and 31 July 2023; and how many referrals the Forced Marriage Unit has received for child marriage cases in that time period.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage. On 27 February 2023, we brought into force legislation which raised the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expanded the offence of forced marriage so it is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even if coercion is not used.
The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has been actively raising awareness of the new forced marriage legislation in all its presentations and across its social media platforms since January 2023.
The FMU runs regular workshops and presentations for police officers, social workers, local authorities, registrars and others. In 2022, the FMU delivered training to 1,537 professionals and the unit has reached over 3,000 professionals by the end of September 2023. This includes bespoke training sessions on request to police forces. Over 650 police officers have been given this training since the legislation changed in February 2023. The Home Office also worked with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on HBA to ensure that forces were prepared for the commencement of the legislation. This included a joint national meeting with relevant force leads and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before the legislation came into force.
While the Home Office does not directly hold data on safeguarding measures introduced by police forces to help ensure that suspected child marriage cases are managed adequately, we do work closely with the dedicated NPCC lead for Honour Based Abuse to ensure forces have the support they need. In addition, the College of Policing published authorised professional practice guidance for officers on ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) which has been updated together with domestic abuse training and the Police Education Qualifications Framework to incorporate material about the new legislation.
Whilst there have not been dedicated meetings on this subject with Home Office Ministers and the DHSC and DfE Secretaries of State, Ministers do meet regularly to discuss matters of crime and safeguarding, with a dedicated VAWG Ministerial Steering Group taking place later this month.
The FMU is jointly funded by the Home Office and FCDO. It currently has six full time staff, two joint heads (one from each department) and four case workers. The Unit’s operating costs including staff time, outreach activity and casework are funded through the departmental budgets of its parent organisations.
Statistics on prosecutions and convictions for the new offence of arranging for a child to marry as part of the Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Minimum Age) Act 2022 are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and are not currently available as the offence only came into force in February 2023. Statistics on the offence will be available in future publications of MoJ’s Criminal Justice System Statistics. The Government does not hold data on arrests or investigations for the offence. The FMU publishes annual statistics, including on the total number of cases per year, online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forced-marriage-unit-statistics.