Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to tackle racially motivated attacks against (1) ethnic minority women, and (2) asylum seekers and refugees.

The Government deplores all racially motivated attacks. A strong legal framework is in place to tackle hate crime including criminal offences of incitement to racial hatred and racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. This Government published a new hate crime action plan in July 2016. The Government supports a range of programmes including Tell MAMA, True Vision and Stop Hate UK that focus on encouraging victims including ethnic minority women, asylum seekers and refugees to report hate crime and signposting them to services that provide support for victims.

The Government’s Building a Stronger Britain Together (BSBT) programme includes a range of organisations working with different communities across England and Wales that support women and girls from ethnic minorities.