Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve safety for the LGBT+ community.

The Government is committed to ensuring that LGBT+ people are safe, supported and able to live their lives free from discrimination, prejudice and hate.

As set out in our manifesto, we are expanding the aggravated offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 so that crimes motivated by hostility towards a person’s sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability attract tougher penalties, in line with existing aggravated offences for race and religion.

As my Hon. friend Dame Diana Johnson confirmed at Commons Report Stage on 18 June, the Government will implement this through an amendment in the Lords to the Crime and Policing Bill.

Through the Sentencing Act 2020, courts already apply enhanced sentencing where there is evidence of hostility based on sexual orientation or transgender identity. The expansion of aggravated offences will further reinforce the seriousness with which these crimes are treated, ensuring perpetrators face longer sentences and communities are better protected.