Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of citizens who have suffered threats or violence as a result of converting from Islam to another belief system.

No formal assessment of the number of citizens who have suffered threats or violence as a result of converting from Islam to another belief system has been made.

However the UK Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We deplore all religious and racially motivated attacks and so-called honour-based violence. We are encouraging anyone who is a victim of a hate crime, or subject to race-related abuse or attack, to report the incident to the police, so the offenders can be dealt with appropriately.

The May 2014 progress report into hate crime provides both an overview of Government achievements, and case study examples, demonstrating how work to tackle hate crime is being carried out locally. In addition, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary will be carrying out an inspection into the police response to honour-based violence in the new year.