Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government plans to enforce the reporting duties for female genital mutilation for professionals under Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, as amended.

Karen Bradley

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse.

The new FGM mandatory reporting duty requires specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police. It applies to teachers and health and social care professionals regulated by a body which is overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (with the exception of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland) in England and Wales.

The duty does not apply to non-regulated professionals. This includes non-regulated professionals who are members of bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register. However, our guidance on the duty is clear that such professionals also have a responsibility to take appropriate action in relation to any identified or suspected case of FGM, in line with wider safeguarding frameworks and guidance, including the multi-agency guidance on FGM which we are putting on a statutory footing.

Where professionals fail to comply with the duty, this should be dealt with in accordance with professional bodies’ existing disciplinary procedures.