Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Conclusion 4
Sixth Report - So-called honour-based abuse
Published 19 Jul 2023
Paragraph 37
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee So-called honour-based abuse All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We welcome the steps taken by the police service in response to the concerns raised in the super-complaint on honour-based abuse brought by Liberty and the Halo Project in 2020. However, there is still more work to be done if victims of honour-based abuse are to feel empowered to report the crimes against them and feel confident that they will be safeguarded against further harm. People subject to honour-based abuse take huge 40 risks in reporting the crimes against them, and it is critical that the public services in place to protect them are able to recognise that abuse at the first opportunity.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, Sixth Report - So-called honour-based abuse (HC 831), paragraph 37, 19 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 15 September 2023 (deadline 19 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government responds to the Committee's report by stating that it is committed to tackling so-called honour-based abuse, accepting some measures but giving reasons for not adopting others, including a statutory definition, a data-sharing firewall and a separate strategy for male victims.
- On a statutory definition, it says it is "not clear that making the definition statutory would improve understanding of or the response to these crimes", but "will continue to keep this under review".
- On a firewall between the police and the Home Office, it states that "It would not be appropriate to introduce such restrictions on data sharing". It remains committed to an Immigration Enforcement Migrant Victims Protocol, to be implemented "later this year".
- On recording, it says a specific area is being developed within the Crime Recording Rules on information to collect from HBA victims, to be communicated to all forces once completed. On Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment questions on HBA, it gives reasons for not including them.
- On the Istanbul Convention Article 59 reservation, it is "carefully considering" the pilot evaluation and will communicate its decision. It will continue to fund the Support for Migrant Victims scheme until 2024-25.