Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a criminal offence of honour based violence or abuse.

‘Honour’-based abuse (HBA) is an umbrella term, covering specific crimes such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, but also other forms of abuse that take place in an 'honour' context.

While there is not a specific offence of Honour Based Abuse, there are a number of measures in place to help ensure consistency. The college of policing has published policing guidance and a national policing strategy for HBA, FGM and forced marriage and the government has in place statutory multi-agency guidance and free e-learning on forced marriage and FGM to support all professionals. The sentencing guidelines for cases involving domestic abuse also apply to Honour Based Abuse.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and the new VAWG strategy will include action to tackle HBA. The strategy will be published later this year.