Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make LGBTQ+ hate crimes aggravated offences; and if she will implement a national Hate Crime Strategy and Action Plan to improve (a) reporting and (b) support for victims of hate crimes based on (i) sexual orientation and (ii) gender identity.

All hate crimes are unacceptable, and we back the police in taking the strongest action against the perpetrators of these appalling offences.

We are currently considering the best way to implement commitments in this space.

The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal called True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime - including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime - do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime.