The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 28th November 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure better co-ordination of guidance given to medical practitioners, teachers, and faith leaders on reporting and protecting girls from female genital mutilation.
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab, Home Office): Tackling Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an important part of this Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. We are focused on preventing these crimes from happening in the first place, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice.
Frontline professionals and agencies with safeguarding responsibilities are crucial to protecting survivors and those at risk of FGM. Statutory guidance is therefore in place for agencies with safeguarding responsibilities to equip them with information on the law on FGM and to provide detailed advice on identifying FGM cases and how to coordinate appropriate responses.
The guidance also makes clear the importance of reporting for safeguarding professionals. It includes explicit reference to the mandatory reporting duty of some professionals (teachers, health and social care workers), making clear that under the law, they must rapidly inform the police of ‘known’ FGM cases among under-18s.
In addition to statutory guidance, there is an official FGM Resource Pack available for professionals which highlights what works in protecting survivors and those at risk of FGM. The Resource Pack includes training and assessment resources, as well as information about available specialist support services to enable coordinated responses.
Finally, the Government has developed free e-learning on FGM for frontline staff in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many cases the Forced Marriage Unit provided advice and support to in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, (4) 2022, and (5) 2023.
Lord Hanson of Flint: The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) lead efforts to combat forced marriage both at home and abroad, providing support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline and inbox. The support offered ranges from providing information on forced marriage general enquiries and guidance to assistance in repatriation to the UK (for victims overseas).
The FMU publishes annual statistics that represent only the cases that have been reported to the FMU. Forced marriage is a hidden crime, so these figures will not reflect the full scale of the abuse. For this reason, the FMU is also involved in activities to raise awareness of forced marriage among key professions.
Data for the years 2019 – 2023, regarding FMU cases, is as follows:
- 2023: the FMU received 802 contacts relating to possible forced marriage or FGM (FMU can assist in relation to Forced Marriage and FGM where they impact British Nationals). This figure includes general enquiries and comprises 280 cases of forced marriage where advice and support were provided.
- 2022: the FMU received 847 contacts (including general enquiries) and provided advice and support in 302 cases.
- 2021: the FMU received 1,205 contacts (including general enquiries) and gave advice and support in 337 cases.
- 2020: the FMU received 1,159 contacts (including general enquiries) and provided advice and support in 759 cases.
- 2019: Reporting in this year did not distinguish between general enquiries and cases where advice and support were provided. A total of 1,355 cases were recorded.
A more detailed breakdown of these statistics is available for the years 2019 – 2023 and is accessible to the public via GOV.uk.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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