Female Genital Mutilation

Home Office written question – answered at on 8 December 2014.

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Photo of Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many arrests there have been in (a) Lambeth, (b) Greater London and (c) the UK related to female genital mutilation; and how many such arrests have led to prosecution.

Photo of Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support she gives to local authorities to tackle female genital mutilation; and if she will make a statement.

Photo of Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support she gives to the police to tackle female genital mutilation; and if she will make a statement.

Photo of Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of incidents of female genital mutilation that were carried out on women and girls residing in (a) Lambeth, (b) Greater London and (c) the UK in each of the last three years.

Photo of Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of arrests and prosecutions related to female genital mutilation.

Photo of Lynne Featherstone Lynne Featherstone The Minister of State, Home Department

Female genital mutilation is an extremely harmful practice which the government is committed to tackling. We are strengthening the law on FGM. The Serious Crime Bill includes provisions to extend extra-territorial jurisdiction over

offences of FGM committed abroad, to provide lifelong anonymity for victims of FGM, and to create a new offence of failing to protect a girl from the risk of FGM. We are also introducing a new civil protection order to protect victims or

potential victims of FGM.

We are improving the police response to FGM working with the College of Policing and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The College of Policing is introducing a new authorised professional practice on FGM to raise awareness amongst investigators and better equip them to tackle the practice. In addition, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary will be conducting a force level inspection on the police response to so-called honour based violence with a focus on FGM.

In order to support local areas the government has launched an e-learning tool so that all front line practitioners are able to undertake an introduction to FGM. The government is also funding training for Local Safeguarding Children

Boards which will be delivered this financial year and has launched an online FGM resource for local areas. The aim of the resource is to emphasise what works in tackling FGM and highlight examples where effective practice has been

identified.

The government has part funded a new study by Equality Now and City University into the prevalence of female genital mutilation in England and Wales. The interim report, published in July 2014, has estimated that approximately 60,000

girls aged 0-14 were born in England and Wales to mothers who had had FGM, and that approximately 103,000 women aged 15-49 and approximately 24,000 women aged 50 and over who have migrated to England and Wales are living with the consequences of FGM. In addition, approximately 10,000 girls aged under 15 who have migrated to England and Wales are likely to have suffered FGM. The full report, with data disaggregated to a local level, will be released in the new year.

In addition, since April 2014 NHS staff have been required to record in a patient’s healthcare record whenever it is identified that the patient has suffered FGM. This applies to all NHS clinicians and healthcare professionals

across the NHS. The collection became mandatory on 1 September 2014.The first aggregated monthly data return from acute hospital providers in England, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, reported that in

September 2014 there were 1,279 patients identified as having undergone FGM prior to the reporting period, who were still being actively seen or treated for FGM-related conditions or any other non-related condition, and 467 newly

identified cases of FGM nationally.

The government does not hold information on the number of arrests related to FGM in the UK.

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