Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there have been any child marriage convictions in the UK since the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 came into effect in February 2023.
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: 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: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Home Office is taking to close safeguarding loopholes where a name is changed in relation to a change of gender.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is clear that we want people who are transgender to be able to live their lives as they wish. We believe that the process of legally changing one’s gender is a serious and legally meaningful undertaking which requires appropriate checks and a level of formality.
Home Office policy is to allow a customer to change their gender without requiring a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), in line with the Equality Act 2010, which does not allow discrimination between people who have changed their gender through medical intervention, for example via surgery, and those who have not.
Statements from medical consultants are accepted if they are registered on a medical website, can provide proof of their medical qualification and HM Passport examiners can verify; if not HM Passport Office examiners request another letter from another medical consultant if the original person cannot meet the necessary criteria.
The Government has begun an internal review into name change more generally. The review is looking at the formal and informal methods by which someone can change their name provide assurance that, where necessary, appropriate safeguards exist.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many female genital mutilation protection orders were issued in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, (3) 2017, (4) 2018, and (5) 2019.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
FGM is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. We significantly strengthened the law in 2015 in order to improve protection for victims and those at risk, and to break down the barriers to prosecution.
The first UK conviction for FGM took place on 1 February 2019 and the perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Home Office does not collate information on prosecutions centrally. Information on FGM prosecutions can be found in the Violence Against Women and Girls Reports, which are published annually by the Crown Prosecution Service.
We have not previously collected data on the number of FGM cases received under the mandatory reporting duty. However, to improve understanding of the prevalence of so called ‘honour-based’ abuse, including FGM, the Government amended the police Annual Data Requirement (ADR) to require police forces, from April 2019, to record where a crime has been committed in the context of preserving the ‘honour’ of a family or community. This new collection is also capturing police recorded offences of FGM which were initially reported to the police under the mandatory reporting duty. Subject to data quality checks, we expect the first dataset under this new mandatory ADR collection to be published by autumn 2020.
The Government will continue to keep the changes made in the Serious Crime Act 2015 under review in order to ensure that they are working effectively.
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly statistics on the number of FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs) issued by the family courts in England and Wales, which can be found via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.
The figures from 2015-2019 are set out in the table below. To note that FGMPOs were introduced in July 2015 and the figures for 2019 cover the period up to 30 September 2019. Figures for the final three months of 2019 will be published in due course.
2015 | 32 |
2016 | 64 |
2017 | 109 |
2018 | 143 |
2019 | 141 |
Total | 489 |
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many reports of cases of female genital mutilation, or suspected female genital mutilation, they have received under the mandatory reporting for under-18s duty in the Serious Crime Act 2015 since that Act received Royal Assent.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
FGM is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. We significantly strengthened the law in 2015 in order to improve protection for victims and those at risk, and to break down the barriers to prosecution.
The first UK conviction for FGM took place on 1 February 2019 and the perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Home Office does not collate information on prosecutions centrally. Information on FGM prosecutions can be found in the Violence Against Women and Girls Reports, which are published annually by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the mandatory reporting of female genital mutilation for under 18s duty.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
FGM is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. We significantly strengthened the law in 2015 in order to improve protection for victims and those at risk, and to break down the barriers to prosecution.
The first UK conviction for FGM took place on 1 February 2019 and the perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Home Office does not collate information on prosecutions centrally. Information on FGM prosecutions can be found in the Violence Against Women and Girls Reports, which are published annually by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the outcome of criminalising female genital mutilation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
FGM is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. We significantly strengthened the law in 2015 in order to improve protection for victims and those at risk, and to break down the barriers to prosecution.
The first UK conviction for FGM took place on 1 February 2019 and the perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Home Office does not collate information on prosecutions centrally. Information on FGM prosecutions can be found in the Violence Against Women and Girls Reports, which are published annually by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there has been any increase in those who commit female genital mutilation being (1) prosecuted, and (2) found guilty, in the UK since the Serious Crime Act 2015 received Royal Assent.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
FGM is a crime and it is child abuse. The Government will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. We significantly strengthened the law in 2015 in order to improve protection for victims and those at risk, and to break down the barriers to prosecution.
The first UK conviction for FGM took place on 1 February 2019 and the perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The Home Office does not collate information on prosecutions centrally. Information on FGM prosecutions can be found in the Violence Against Women and Girls Reports, which are published annually by the Crown Prosecution Service.