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<p>The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage. On 27 February 2023, we
brought into force legislation which raised the minimum age of marriage and civil
partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expanded the offence of forced marriage
so it is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even
if coercion is not used.</p><p> </p><p>The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office (FCDO) Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has been actively raising
awareness of the new forced marriage legislation in all its presentations and across
its social media platforms since January 2023.</p><p> </p><p>The FMU runs regular
workshops and presentations for police officers, social workers, local authorities,
registrars and others. In 2022, the FMU delivered training to 1,537 professionals
and the unit has reached over 3,000 professionals by the end of September 2023. This
includes bespoke training sessions on request to police forces. Over 650 police officers
have been given this training since the legislation changed in February 2023. The
Home Office also worked with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on HBA to ensure
that forces were prepared for the commencement of the legislation. This included a
joint national meeting with relevant force leads and the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS) before the legislation came into force.</p><p> </p><p>While the Home Office
does not directly hold data on safeguarding measures introduced by police forces to
help ensure that suspected child marriage cases are managed adequately, we do work
closely with the dedicated NPCC lead for Honour Based Abuse to ensure forces have
the support they need. In addition, the College of Policing published authorised professional
practice guidance for officers on ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) which has been updated
together with domestic abuse training and the Police Education Qualifications Framework
to incorporate material about the new legislation.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst there have
not been dedicated meetings on this subject with Home Office Ministers and the DHSC
and DfE Secretaries of State, Ministers do meet regularly to discuss matters of crime
and safeguarding, with a dedicated VAWG Ministerial Steering Group taking place later
this month.</p><p> </p><p>The FMU is jointly funded by the Home Office and FCDO. It
currently has six full time staff, two joint heads (one from each department) and
four case workers. The Unit’s operating costs including staff time, outreach activity
and casework are funded through the departmental budgets of its parent organisations.</p><p>
</p><p>Statistics on prosecutions and convictions for the new offence of arranging
for a child to marry as part of the Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Minimum Age)
Act 2022 are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and are not currently
available as the offence only came into force in February 2023. Statistics on the
offence will be available in future publications of MoJ’s Criminal Justice System
Statistics. The Government does not hold data on arrests or investigations for the
offence. The FMU publishes annual statistics, including on the total number of cases
per year, online at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forced-marriage-unit-statistics"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forced-marriage-unit-statistics</a>.</p>
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