Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the report by the Council of Europe about the incidence of hate crime in the UK, the apparent failure to prosecute such crimes, and the lack of data on the use of extended sentencing powers.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Since 2010, we have improved police recording of hate crime. Forces now capture data on all five of the monitored hate crime strands, and from April this year, forces have started to disaggregate hate crime data on the grounds of religion.

We have noted the findings of the Council of Europe’s European Commission on Racism and Intolerance following an inspection of the United Kingdom earlier this year. The Government’s full response to the report can be found as an annex to the publication.

We are clear that there is no excuse for hate crime against anyone of any nationality, ethnicity or religious background – it has no place whatsoever in our diverse society. This commitment is underpinned by some of the strongest legislation in the world.

We welcome that the Commission has recognised the strength of our new hate crime action plan which will help reduce hate crime, increase reporting and improve support for victims. The hate crime action plan contains specific measures to increase the rate of prosecution and ensure that enhanced sentencing powers are used where appropriate.

These measures include refreshed Crown Prosecution Service policy and legal guidance for prosecutors on racially and religiously aggravated crime and on prosecuting social media cases, and publicising convictions and information on enhanced sentencing outcomes.