Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2016 to Question 50110, whether her Department had made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the collection of data on the presumed religion or belief or other key characteristics of alleged or suspected perpetrators of religiously or racially motivated attacks.

The police have made great strides in collecting data on hate crime and from April 2016 they have started to collect data for religiously motivated crimes on the basis of the victim’s religion (or perceived religion).

We need to ensure that any additional burdens that are placed on the police in relation to hate crime can be justified in terms of improving their response to such crimes and the support they give to victims. We would also need to ensure that any additional data collected was accurate and could be used constructively.