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<p>The Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. Crime that is motivated
by hostility or hatred towards the victim is particularly corrosive and can have devastating
consequences for victims and their families. We are committed to working with communities
in order to keep them safe.</p><p>We have announced that we will publish a new hate
crime action plan next year. This will include a number of actions aimed at reducing
the number of hate crimes committed against disabled people, and also improving the
response to these crimes when they occur.</p><p>I, and other ministers, attended a
roundtable on disability hate crime in October. This gave me the opportunity to speak
to a range of people, including representatives of the Equalities and Human Rights
Commission, researchers and service users. A key part of our action plan will include
understanding the issues behind hate crime, and this was an important first step towards
this. Officials are taking forward actions from this meeting.</p><p>The Government
is currently speaking to a number of organisations and individuals to inform the next
steps in developing this action plan. This includes work with the Fulfilling Potential
Forum, which is led by the Office for Disability Issues within DWP and is made up
of around 40 disability charities, including disabled people’s user led organisations.</p>
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