Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to tackle (a) forced marriage and (b) female genital mutilation.

The Girl Summit, hosted by the Prime Minister and UNICEF in July 2014, underlined the United Kingdom’s leadership in stamping out forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM).

We made forced marriage a criminal offence and the first conviction was secured last month. We also introduced a package of new measures to tackle FGM through the Serious Crime Act 2015 including victim anonymity, mandatory reporting of FGM, a new offence of parental liability and the introduction of FGM protection orders.

The Government recognises that legislation alone is not enough to tackle FGM and forced marriage, and our specialist FGM and Forced Marriage Units lead and deliver wide-ranging prevention and awareness-raising work.