To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to tackle violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to tackle violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

This Government are strongly committed to advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) equality and to tackling discrimination and violence against LGB&T people whenever it occurs.

In March 2011, the Government published “Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality: Moving Forward”. This action plan outlined an ambitious range of actions the Government will take, from tackling homophobic bullying in schools to improving its response rate to hate crime. This was followed in December 2011 by the first ever Government transgender equality action plan, “Advancing Transgender Equality: A Plan for Action”, to address the specific challenges transgender people face. Both documents can be found on the Home Office website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/equalities/

Last month, the Government also published “Challenge it, Report it, Stop it”, an action plan to tackle all forms of hate crime, including homophobic and transphobic hate crime. The action plan is available on the Home Office website at:

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/hate-crime/