Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of hate crime laws for protecting LGBTQ+ people from hate crime; and if she will make a statement.

The Government takes all forms of hate crime seriously, and we have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target sexual orientation, transgender identity, disability, race and religion. The Government expects the perpetrators of these abhorrent offences to be brought to justice.

We are aware of stakeholder concerns relating to the effectiveness of existing legislation. That is why the Government asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of hate crime legislation in 2018. The Law Commission published its final report in December 2021, and we are grateful for the detailed consideration it has given to its review of hate crime laws. The Government will respond in full shortly.