Asked by: Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children have been prevented from leaving the country when it is believed they are going abroad to undergo female genital mutilation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are clear that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. On 1 April we published updated multi-agency statutory guidance on FGM including information to help professionals understand the risk factors that they should be looking out for and what action they should take. In addition, free e-learning is available to all professionals, providing training on how to recognise and respond to FGM. To date the course has been completed by over 30,000 people. In addition, the Department of Health’s £3M FGM Prevention Programme is focused on improving the NHS response and includes free e-learning for healthcare professionals. A new mandatory reporting duty requiring regulated health and social care professionals and teachers to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police came into force on 31 October 2015. Professionals encountering instances of FGM in women over 18, or who believe that a girl or woman is at risk, should follow established safeguarding procedures. Anyone who is concerned that a girl or woman has undergone FGM or is at risk can contact the NSPCC FGM helpline. Reports to this helpline can be made anonymously. The Home Office’s Border Force plays a vital role in helping to identify and protect potential victims of FGM travelling to and from the UK. Border Force work with the police in protecting girls and young women at risk of FGM, including carrying out joint operations. FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs) were fast-tracked for implementation last July and are being used to protect girls at risk of FGM, including those who may be taken abroad. Ministry of Justice data released on 31 March shows 32 FGMPOs were issued between July and December 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government to whom instances of female genital mutilation should be reported, and whether there is a mechanism for doing so anonymously.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are clear that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. On 1 April we published updated multi-agency statutory guidance on FGM including information to help professionals understand the risk factors that they should be looking out for and what action they should take. In addition, free e-learning is available to all professionals, providing training on how to recognise and respond to FGM. To date the course has been completed by over 30,000 people. In addition, the Department of Health’s £3M FGM Prevention Programme is focused on improving the NHS response and includes free e-learning for healthcare professionals. A new mandatory reporting duty requiring regulated health and social care professionals and teachers to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police came into force on 31 October 2015. Professionals encountering instances of FGM in women over 18, or who believe that a girl or woman is at risk, should follow established safeguarding procedures. Anyone who is concerned that a girl or woman has undergone FGM or is at risk can contact the NSPCC FGM helpline. Reports to this helpline can be made anonymously. The Home Office’s Border Force plays a vital role in helping to identify and protect potential victims of FGM travelling to and from the UK. Border Force work with the police in protecting girls and young women at risk of FGM, including carrying out joint operations. FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs) were fast-tracked for implementation last July and are being used to protect girls at risk of FGM, including those who may be taken abroad. Ministry of Justice data released on 31 March shows 32 FGMPOs were issued between July and December 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding, and what resources, are allocated to providing training for teachers and those working in the care and medical professions to recognise female genital mutilation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are clear that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. On 1 April we published updated multi-agency statutory guidance on FGM including information to help professionals understand the risk factors that they should be looking out for and what action they should take. In addition, free e-learning is available to all professionals, providing training on how to recognise and respond to FGM. To date the course has been completed by over 30,000 people. In addition, the Department of Health’s £3M FGM Prevention Programme is focused on improving the NHS response and includes free e-learning for healthcare professionals. A new mandatory reporting duty requiring regulated health and social care professionals and teachers to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police came into force on 31 October 2015. Professionals encountering instances of FGM in women over 18, or who believe that a girl or woman is at risk, should follow established safeguarding procedures. Anyone who is concerned that a girl or woman has undergone FGM or is at risk can contact the NSPCC FGM helpline. Reports to this helpline can be made anonymously. The Home Office’s Border Force plays a vital role in helping to identify and protect potential victims of FGM travelling to and from the UK. Border Force work with the police in protecting girls and young women at risk of FGM, including carrying out joint operations. FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs) were fast-tracked for implementation last July and are being used to protect girls at risk of FGM, including those who may be taken abroad. Ministry of Justice data released on 31 March shows 32 FGMPOs were issued between July and December 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to repeal the provisions contained within the Vagrancy Act 1824, which allow for homeless people to be arrested for begging.
Answered by Lord Bates
We have no plans to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Asked by: Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence of physical, sexual and emotional abuse experienced by transgender individuals placed in mixed-sex Immigration Removal Centres.
Answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Men and women only mix at two immigration removal centres (IRC); Yarl's Wood family accommodation and Dungavel IRC. Transsexual people may be held in any IRC.
Transsexual people in detention are managed in accordance with Detention Services Order 11/2012. This order requires centres to produce a management care plan outlining how the detainee will be managed safely and decently within the detention environment and to put in place measures to manage the risk of transphobic harassment and transphobic hate crime.
An assessment of the incidence of physical, sexual and emotional abuse experienced by transgender individuals placed in IRCs is not possible as the information is not centrally recorded and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.