Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases supported by the Forced Marriage Unit in each of the last five years resulted in a referral to the National Referral Mechanism; and what specialist support for girls affected by forced marriage is funded through the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls programme.

The UK is a world leader in the fight to stamp out the harmful practice of forced marriage. The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has been working to combat forced marriage since 2005. The Forced Marriage Unit provides support to victims, those at risk of forced marriage, and advice to professionals through its public helpline and inbox. The support offered ranges from providing information and guidance, to consular assistance for victims who are British national and habitual residents overseas.

The FMU works in an advisory capacity and therefore does not hold information on referrals of victims to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). First Responders, such as Local Authorities, the police, Border Force, UKVI, and Immigration Enforcement, and specific NGOs, are responsible for identifying indicators of modern slavery and referring potential victims into the NRM for their cases to be considered by the appropriate Competent Authority.

The Home Office also funds Karma Nirvana to operate the national ‘Honour’-Based Abuse (HBA) Helpline. This service aims, through the provision of a telephone line and e-mail service to support victims and survivors of HBA including forced marriage.