Committee announce new inquiry into Female Genital Mutilation

The inquiry will consider the following questions:

• How effective is the existing legislative framework on FGM, and what are the barriers to achieving a successful prosecution in the UK?
• Which groups in the UK are most at risk of FGM (whether in this country or abroad), and what are the barriers to identification and intervention?
• What are the respective roles of the police, health, education and social care professionals, and the third sector; and how can multi-agency co-operation be improved?
• How can the systems for collecting and sharing information on FGM be improved?
• How effective are existing efforts to raise awareness of FGM?
• How can the available support and services be improved for women and girls in the UK who have suffered FGM?

The Committee would welcome views on these and any other matters that may be relevant to the inquiry.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chair of the Committee, said:

“It is shocking that 28 years on from female genital mutilation first being made a criminal offence, there has not yet been a successful prosecution in the UK. The Committee’s inquiry will seek to find out why this is the case, as well as considering what more needs to be done to protect at risk girls. We would welcome evidence from those affected by this hideous crime as well as those whose responsibility it is to protect them.”

Submitting written evidence

The Committee invited written submissions on these issues by 12 February 2014.

Each submission should:
a) be no more than 3,000 words in length
b) be in Word format with as little use of colour or logos as possible
c) have numbered paragraphs
d) include a declaration of interests.

Copies of submissions may be sent by e-mail to homeaffcom@parliament.uk and marked "FGM".

Please note that:

• Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed memorandum, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.
• Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
• Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.

The remit of the Home Affairs Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies.