Female Genital Mutilation Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Attorney General

Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Thomas of Gresford Excerpts
Wednesday 16th July 2025

(2 days ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
--- Later in debate ---
Lord Hermer Portrait Lord Hermer (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is going to be fatal to the young girls that we all want to protect if we turn this into a political issue—I am not suggesting that the noble Lord was doing that. He has given the most recent figures, and he is right to do so because those are the figures that we need to focus on, but I am not going to go through the figures for the past 14 years because we need to focus on outcomes. Work is going on across the board, including at the CPS, where we are updating guidance, training and cross-co-ordination with other agencies, and I am due shortly to meet the Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss what more we can do. Again, I stress that this not a problem purely for the criminal justice system; it is a problem that needs to be addressed across government.

Lord Thomas of Gresford Portrait Lord Thomas of Gresford (LD)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Does the noble and learned Lord agree that, as part of the proposed curriculum review in schools, it should be made clear to young parents of the future that FGM is a serious criminal offence for residents in this country wherever in the world the assault takes place, that it carries heavy sentences of imprisonment when prosecutions are brought and that cultural differences do not amount to a defence?

Lord Hermer Portrait Lord Hermer (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I agree entirely with the spirit of what the noble Lord has said. He will appreciate that I cannot, from this Dispatch Box on an ad hoc basis, determine what goes into the curriculum, but I am convinced that this problem is one that needs to be addressed from the classroom to the courtroom.