Today, Tuesday 16 October, the Home Office released statistics related to hate crime incidents in England and Wales.
The statistics show that police recorded incidents of hate crime between April 2017 and March 2018 increased by 17%.
Below is a response to today's statistics by Minister for Countering Extremism Baroness Williams and a factsheet on the Government's work to tackle hate crime.
Further information on the publication of the Government's updated Hate Crime Action Plan refresh can be found here.
Minister for Countering Extremism Baroness Williams said:
It is encouraging that the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a 40 per cent fall in hate crime over the last decade.
But my message to people and communities affected by hate crime is that we stand in solidarity with you, and police recording of crime clearly shows that government and police forces must not be complacent in rooting these crimes out.
It is why today we have launched a newly updated Hate Crime Action Plan and announced a wide-ranging review of hate crime laws to be conducted by the Law Commission.
FACTSHEET
In 2016 published a Hate Crime Action Plan to drive forward work across Government, with police and communities to tackle all forms of hate crime which we have just refreshed to ensure it remains fit for purpose.
Improved police recording of hate crime. Forces now capture data on all five monitored strands of hate crime: race or ethnicity, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity. Police also now record the faith when a religious-based hate crime has taken place to increase understanding and help target police resources.
Announced a Law Commission review into hate crime legislation to ensure the legislation enables consistent and effective protection from conduct motivated by hatred.
Launched funding schemes to help protect places of worship from hate crime and to tackle hate crime at a local level. We have committed £3.4m to protect places of worship from hate crime, including £1m for vulnerable faith institutions following the Finsbury Park attack in June 2017. Additionally, we have committed £900,000 to support community led projects, through the Hate Crime Community Project Fund.
Set up the Cross-Government Working Group on Tackling Antisemitism and the Cross-Government Working Group on anti-Muslim hatred, which allow us to respond quickly to issues in these communities.
Supporting Streetwise’s Stand Up project, which works with young people in schools to challenge Islamophobia and antisemitism. It has reached over 8,000 young people to date
Providing Tell MAMA with £2.5m of funding between 2017 and 2019 to support its work encouraging the reporting of anti-Muslim hatred and providing support to victims. Between January and March 2018, Tell MAMA hosted 77 community events reaching over 7,500 people and since 2017 they have established 10 Regional Advisory Boards to support their work.
Committed £200,000 of Home Office funding for a new national police hub to tackle the emerging threat of online hate crime. The hub went live in January 2018.
Announced a joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper will be published in the winter, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures detailing how we will tackle online harms and set clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep UK citizens safe.
Supported the European Commission Code of Conduct for Countering Illegal Hate Speech. This voluntary code has been signed by Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, Twitter and Instagram. One main aim of the Code is to ensure that requests to remove content are reviewed in less than 24 hours, and content is removed if necessary.