Feb. 29 2024
Source Page: Inspection report on Home Office country of origin information, Albania and Pakistan (October 2023)Found: Not trusting the system of protection, she was forced to flee the country.
Feb. 29 2024
Source Page: Angiolini Inquiry Part 1 ReportFound: However, ongoing criminal prosecutions against Couzens and ongoing misconduct proceedings relevant to
Feb. 29 2024
Source Page: Angiolini Inquiry Part 1 ReportFound: However, ongoing criminal prosecutions against Couzens and ongoing misconduct proceedings relevant to
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 March 2023 (HL6584), when the government-funded feasibility study on the prevalence of female genital mutilation and forced marriage in England and Wales will be published.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, the Home Office has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns on the number of offences they have recorded as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. In October 2023, the Home Office published the fourth set of these annual statistics, which included 84 offences relating to FGM covering the year to March 2023. Data on prosecutions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded one offence which was charged by the police under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. This was discontinued at its first hearing due to an incorrect charge submitted by the police. Separately, in October 2023, a defendant was found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a non-UK person contrary to section 3 of the Act. This defendant was originally charged in 2018.
In April 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether it is possible to produce a robust prevalence estimate of FGM and forced marriage. This work is ongoing and decisions about next steps will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many female genital mutilation offences were recorded between April 2022 and March 2023; and of those, how many prosecutions have occurred.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, the Home Office has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns on the number of offences they have recorded as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. In October 2023, the Home Office published the fourth set of these annual statistics, which included 84 offences relating to FGM covering the year to March 2023. Data on prosecutions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded one offence which was charged by the police under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. This was discontinued at its first hearing due to an incorrect charge submitted by the police. Separately, in October 2023, a defendant was found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a non-UK person contrary to section 3 of the Act. This defendant was originally charged in 2018.
In April 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether it is possible to produce a robust prevalence estimate of FGM and forced marriage. This work is ongoing and decisions about next steps will be taken in due course.
Mentions:
1: Baroness Butler-Sloss (XB - Life peer) We have taken evidence from across the United Kingdom and discovered family members forced into marriage - Speech Link
2: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer) Definitions are also muddled by the forced marriage of “LGB” with “TQI”. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: None through trauma to help survivors to gain control of their lives, so the idea that survivors are being forced - Speech Link
2: Baroness Newlove (Con - Life peer) In effect, victims are being forced to choose between seeking justice and their right to a private life - Speech Link
3: Earl Howe (Con - Excepted Hereditary) legal advice for victims as part of its comprehensive review into the use of evidence in sexual offence prosecutions - Speech Link
4: Earl Howe (Con - Excepted Hereditary) outlined, the Government have asked the Law Commission to examine the trial process in sexual offence prosecutions - Speech Link
5: Baroness Newlove (Con - Life peer) children die at the hands of an abusive parent during unsupervised contact, where abuse is a factor in the marriage - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Brown, Siobhian (SNP - Ayr) In addition, the Scottish Government funds the domestic abuse and forced marriage helpline to offer free - Speech Link
2: Fraser, Murdo (Con - Mid Scotland and Fife) for which he was responsible in his former role, in connection with Horizon information technology prosecutions - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Fiona Bruce (Con - Congleton) on churches, homes and businesses, detention without trial, jailing, abduction, sexual harassment, forced - Speech Link
2: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) Pakistani religious minorities face serious persecution, including forced conversions, child marriage - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Alison Thewliss (SNP - Glasgow Central) For every decision maker to be forced to declare any country safe—regardless of the facts in front of - Speech Link
2: Andrew Gwynne (Lab - Denton and Reddish) But people are being forced to do that by the gangs. - Speech Link
3: None If those desperate people survive the journey, they are forced to wait years for a decision on their - Speech Link
4: Olivia Blake (Lab - Sheffield, Hallam) Same-sex marriage is prohibited, and LGBTQ+ people are not protected from discrimination by any specific - Speech Link