Found: Q61 Alison Thewliss: We are also bringing forward further legislation in Scotland on misogyny as a hate crime

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to designate misogyny as a hate crime.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

The Government is carefully considering how best to tackle hate crime. We will set out next steps in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will consider the potential merits of designating misogyny as a hate crime.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.

The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.

Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.

The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to designate misogyny as a hate crime.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we are committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade.

The Government is carefully considering how best to tackle hate crime. We will set out next steps in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission report entitled Hate crime laws: Final report, HC 942, published in December 2021, through the Criminal Justice Bill.

Answered by Laura Farris

We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws.

In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime. We will respond to the remaining recommendations later this year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission report Hate crime laws: Final report, HC 942, published in December 2021 on hate crime towards LGBTQ+ people.

Answered by Laura Farris

We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime. The Government will respond to the remaining recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Law Commission report Hate crime laws: Final report, HC 942, published in December 2021, if he will implement the recommendations in that report that all (a) anti-LGBT+ (b) and disability hate crimes be treated as aggravated offences.

Answered by Laura Farris

We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target transgender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. We expect the police fully to investigate these abhorrent offences and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.

The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 6% reduction in sexual orientation hate crimes. Whilst an 11% increase in transgender hate crime was seen, and this may partly be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvements in police recording along with increased victim willingness to come forward.

We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – that is why we have the highest number of police officers on record in England and Wales.

The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.

The Government is providing over £3m of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic based bullying.

We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime and will respond to the remaining recommendations in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle the causes of changes in the levels of hate crime against LGBT+ people.

Answered by Laura Farris

We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target transgender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. We expect the police fully to investigate these abhorrent offences and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.

The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 6% reduction in sexual orientation hate crimes. Whilst an 11% increase in transgender hate crime was seen, and this may partly be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvements in police recording along with increased victim willingness to come forward.

We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – that is why we have the highest number of police officers on record in England and Wales.

The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.

The Government is providing over £3m of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic based bullying.

We are grateful for the detailed consideration the Law Commission has given to its review of hate crime laws. In April 2023, the Government published a response to Recommendation 8 on misogyny as a hate crime and will respond to the remaining recommendations in due course.

Found: should also include commitments to tackling specific issues, for example , by enforcing misogyny as a hate crime

Found: I was disappointed to see the Prime Minister dismiss so easily the categorisation of misogyny as a hate crime