Attorney General<p>A National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime was convened by the CPS in March 2021, consisting of community stakeholders, academics and police. The Panel focused on in-depth scrutiny of the handling of disability hate crime cases. As a result, the CPS will this month circulate a bulletin to all prosecutors. This will highlight key findings, lessons and top tips arising from the review. In addition, operational guidance has been refreshed and will be launched this month. It will provide prosecutors with an updated appreciation of how disability hate crime occurs, based on the lived experience of disabled people.</p>CheltenhamAlex Chalk2022-02-01false2022-02-01T09:23:12.497Z88Attorney GeneralAttorney General2022-01-24Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 102715 on Disability: Crimes of Violence, if she will publish further details of the membership of the National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime.falseLewisham, DeptfordVicky Foxcroft110472Attorney General<p>National Scrutiny Panels (NSPs) are one-off, non-recurring meetings designed to focus on a specific topic relating to Hate Crime. The format and membership of each NSP is adapted to the context of the specific topic under consideration. The overarching approach is to seek representation from: community perspectives; relevant Government departments; the police and academic or other specialist interests.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>For the National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime, the following were invited to participate: Dimensions; Inclusion London; the Disability Network; Disability Rights UK; Members of CPS Area Local Involvement and Scrutiny Panels; the National Autistic Society; MIND; Home Office; Ministry of Justice; HMCTS; National Police Chiefs Council and two specialists with a focus on Disability Hate Crime.</p>CheltenhamAlex Chalk2022-02-07false2022-02-07T09:29:01.71Z88Attorney GeneralAttorney General2022-02-01Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 110472 on National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime, if she will respond to the the request to publish further details of the membership of the National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime.falseLewisham, DeptfordVicky Foxcroft115977Home Office<p><del class="ministerial">We are taking determined action to tackle knife crime and other serious violence, including by preventing children and young people from gaining access to knives in the first place. It is already illegal to sell knives and certain articles with blade or point to anyone under 18 in England and Wales, whether face to face or online, and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 will further strengthen the law by stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after being bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product will not be delivered to a person under 18. Through the Offensive Weapons Act, we will also introduce new Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give the police an important new tool to help them to work with both young people and adults at risk of being drawn into knife crime to steer them away from serious violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">It is vital that the police have the resources and tools they need to tackle knife crime, including possession of knives on our streets. This is why we have increased police funding by more than £1 billion this year, including council tax and the £100 million Serious Violence Fund. Through the Serious Violence Fund we have provided £63.4 million to the 18 police forces worst affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. In addition, £35million of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested in Violence Reductions Units which will form a key component of our action to build capacity in local areas to tackle the root causes of serious violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We have also launched a national campaign to begin to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years, and we are making it easier for the police to use their important stop and search powers which is a vital tool in tackling knife possession on our streets and in our local communities.In addition, we continue to encourage all police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The latest phase of the operation took place from 17 to 22 September and included targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps, and surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins. The operation also includes test purchase operations to identify those retailers who flout the law and sell knives to under 18s. Through our dedicated Prosecution Fund we are supporting Trading Standards to prosecute rogue retailers who repeatedly fail test purchases.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We are also addressing the root causes of serious violence by investing over £220 million in early intervention projects, and as announced in the Queen’s Speech, we are bringing forward a new Bill to introduce a new legal duty on public bodies to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Any form of hate crime is completely unacceptable, and this Government takes hate crime very seriously.That is why the Government published the Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016, and refreshed it in October 2018.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Action Plan includes a number of commitments that address all forms of hate crime. These include a review of hate crime legislation by the Law Commission which commenced earlier this year, a public awareness campaign that included specific examples of disability hate crime to make it clear that it is unacceptable. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Additionally, the Action Plan includes specific plans to tackle disability hate crime, including increased engagement with disability stakeholders, hosting two ministerial roundtables with disability groups and social media companies to help tackle online abuse of disabled people, and providing funding for community projects that directly tackle disability hate crime.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p>Baroness Williams of Trafford2019-10-28trueBaroness Williams of Trafford2019-10-28T17:23:01.323Z2019-10-29T17:24:13.193Z1Home OfficeHome Office2019-10-15Hate Crime: Disability2House of LordsTo ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce violent hate crime towards disabled people.falseLord Taylor of WarwickHL137Home Office<p>The Hate Crime Action Plan 2016 included a number of commitments to</p><p>address disability hate crime. These commitments were:</p><ul><li>To look at current best practice examples in tackling disability hate crime and work with partner organisations and the police to promote safety for disabled people.</li><li>To continue to work with community groups to raise awareness of hate crime among disabled people and increasing the availability of third party reporting venues, in particular at locations and through services that are used by disabled people.</li><li>The police will lead work with partners and disabled people’s groups to develop resources targeted to raise awareness of hate crime among carers and families of disabled people to encourage reporting.</li><li>The National Policing Lead to assess proactive recording pilots to see if there is anything to be learned that will increase the recording of disability hate crime.</li></ul><p>In October 2018, the Government published a refresh of the Action Plan, which included the following further commitments on disability hate crime:</p><ul><li>Department for Transport committed, in the July 2018 Inclusive Transport Strategy, to run a public awareness raising campaign to increase disability awareness amongst all transport passengers.</li><li>Continue to help the charity representing people with disfigurement, Changing Faces, in its work with social media companies.</li><li>The Department of Health and Social Care is leading a long-term study of the impact of integrated support for people with learning disabilities, including on the occurrence of disability hate crime.</li><li>Work with community groups to raise awareness of disability hate crime, and consider the best options for third party reporting centres for disabled people. We will work with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and others, to understand where these services already exist, and how best we can promote their availability.</li><li>Increase and broaden our engagement with stakeholders representing disabled people.</li><li>Draw from ongoing doctoral research into police responses to learning disability hate crime underway at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth.</li></ul><p>The 2018 Hate Crime Action Plan refresh also includes a number of broader actions addressing all forms of hate crime, including disability hate crime. These include:</p><ul><li>Publication of the Online Harms White Paper, which sets out plans hold social media companies to greater account;</li><li>A review by the Law Commission into the coverage and approach of current hate crime legislation; and</li><li>A wide-ranging national hate crime communications campaign to publicly address hate crime and make clear that it is unacceptable to target people on the basis of their identity.</li></ul>Baroness Williams of Trafford2019-11-05false2019-11-05T13:00:47.07Z1Home OfficeHome Office2019-10-30Hate Crime: Disability2House of LordsTo ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 28 October (HL137), what plans they have specifically in relation to hate crime towards disabled people.falseBaroness Lister of BurtersettHL544Home Office<p>The Home Office does not currently mandate police forces to disaggregate disability hate crime.</p><p>However, forces are free to record this information locally. We are working closely with stakeholders to improve our understanding of this form of hate crime, and this work will continue to inform our policy on this matter.</p>Baroness Williams of Trafford2017-11-07false2017-11-07T16:57:49.567Z1Home OfficeHome Office2017-11-01Hate Crime: Disability2House of LordsTo ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 18 October (HL Deb, col 616), what steps they are taking to record hate crimes against people with learning difficulties and autism separately from crimes against people with other disabilities.falseLord TouhigHL2830Ministry of Justice<p>The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions and convictions by detailed offence. There is no specific offence under legislation for crimes involving disability hate crime, rather it is an aggravating factor in offences. This information may be held on court record, however, identifying these cases would require a manual search of court records, which would be of disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p>Croydon SouthChris Philp2019-10-17false2019-10-17T14:28:44.58Z54JusticeJustice2019-10-14Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of offences where disability hate crime was a factor in each year since 2010.falseWolverhampton North EastEmma Reynolds258Home Office<p>We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target disability. We expect the police to fully investigate these appalling offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.</p><p>The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 1% reduction in disability hate crime compared with the previous year. However, any instance is one too many and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring these appalling offences are stamped out.</p><p>We do not have a specific category of “appearance-related abuse” in the current legal framework, however criminal offences can be prosecuted as hate crimes when immediately, before, during or after the offence was committed the offender demonstrated hostility towards the victim based upon the victim’s actual or perceived disability, or where the offence was motivated by such hostility.</p><p>Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. We delivered our commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023 and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak in March 2010 before the Police Uplift Programme.</p>Lord Sharpe of Epsom2024-03-20false2024-03-20T12:35:42.967Z1Home OfficeHome Office2024-03-06Hate Crime: Disability2House of LordsTo ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to promoting awareness of the grounds for reporting appearance-related abuse or harassment as a disability-related hate crime, including on public transport.falseBaroness MerronHL3074Home Office<p>The Government is considering the Law Commission’s proposals carefully and will respond to the recommendations shortly.</p>Derbyshire DalesMiss Sarah Dines2022-11-08false2022-11-08T13:55:43.383Z1Home OfficeHome Office2022-11-03Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to implement the Law Commission recommendation on establishing equal protections for people who are assaulted due to their disability as exist for people assaulted due to their race in their report entitled Hate crime laws: Final report, published on 7 December 2021.falseNottingham NorthAlex Norris78638Home Office<p>The Government will publish a response setting out its views on the Law Commission’s recommendations.</p>Derbyshire DalesMiss Sarah Dines2022-11-14false2022-11-14T17:13:58.687Z1Home OfficeHome Office2022-11-08Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2022 to Question 78638 on Hate Crime: Disability, what her planned timetable is for publication of her Department's response to the recommendations.falseNottingham NorthAlex Norris82417Home Office<p>Hate crime is a scourge on communities across the country. It does not reflect the values of modern Britain.</p><p>All forms of hate crime, including disability hate crime, are completely unacceptable. We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.</p><p>Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need, including recruiting 20,000 extra police officers.</p><p> </p><p>To tackle online hate crime, including disability hate crime, we fund a National Online Hate Crime Hub, which is a central police capability designed to support forces in dealing with online hate crime. The hub includes a public reporting portal and provides expert advice to forces to support them in investigating these offences.</p><p>The Home Office collects and publishes data on the proportion of disability hate crime offences which resulted in a charge or summons for selected offence groups in an annual statistical bulletin on hate crime. Data for 2021/22 can be found in Figure 2.8 of the publication, available here: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fhate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022%2Fhate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022&data=05%7C01%7CAdam.Qureshi%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7C8a4e7124c83c4c893b5708db15802e81%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C638127412493707451%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kdF8f9fut7ddVTNoGzghVPLL9IjyU2Qk1IYYJ%2Fz%2Fzig%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank">Hate crime, England and Wales, 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p>Data for previous years can be found in the respective annual publications.</p>Derbyshire DalesMiss Sarah Dines2023-03-01150554150570150571false2023-03-01T16:55:54.653Z1Home OfficeHome Office2023-02-22Hate Crime: Disability1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent hate crime against disabled people.falseLewisham, DeptfordVicky Foxcroft150553100119