Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 90(c) of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' Report on follow-up to the inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, advance unedited version published on 22 March 2024, if he will take steps to ensure that protections for disabled people under hate crime laws are nationally consistent.

Hate crime is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland and falls within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.

In England and Wales, we have a robust legislative framework to respond to all forms of hate crime, including disability hate crime. Whilst the police are operationally independent and work in line with the College of Policing’s operational guidance to respond to hate crime, we expect the police to fully investigate these abhorrent offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.