In 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a study on the feasibility of producing a prevalence estimate of forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM).

Building on this, “Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls”, published in December 2025, committed to conducting an additional study to explore the viability of the University’s recommended approach to producing a national prevalence estimate. The additional study concluded in March 2026

The Government is currently reviewing the findings of both studies and considering next steps.

In 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a study on the feasibility of producing a prevalence estimate of forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) in England and Wales.

Published in December 2025, the “Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls” committed to conducting an additional study to explore the viability of the approach recommended by the University of Birmingham in producing a national prevalence estimate for forced marriage and FGM.

This study is due to conclude in March after which the Government will review the findings of both studies in the round and consider next steps, including publication.

The Department was an interested party in the inquest into Mohamed Abdisamad and is aware of the circumstances surrounding his death. The Department is considering the related Prevention of Future Deaths Report issued by the coroner and will respond in due course.

The Government has no current plans to bring forward legislation or further guidance on non-therapeutic male circumcision.

The Department and NHS England do not routinely collate information on deaths arising from female genital mutilation (FGM) or non-therapeutic male circumcision.

Religious or cultural circumcisions by individuals who are not registered healthcare professionals remain outside the regulatory scope.

The Department has made no recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing regulation of non-therapeutic circumcision when performed by individuals other than healthcare professionals.

What steps she is taking to increase prosecutions rates for female genital mutilation.

We are launching a pilot in four police forces to test multi-agency approaches to managing FGM protection orders. A whole-system approach is fundamental to tackling FGM and increasing prosecutions. In the spring, the Minister for Safeguarding and I will be hosting a ministerial roundtable dedicated to FGM, bringing together every Department with a role to play to agree collective action to strengthen the prevention, investigation and prosecution of these offences.

By its very nature, FGM is a hidden tragedy for many women and girls, and it is important that prosecution rates are increased. One way to do that would be to emphasise and publicise the use of FGM protection orders, which can help to prevent the carrying out of FGM both here and abroad, and now apply in all UK jurisdictions. Will the Solicitor General advise what action the Department can take to make the possible use of such orders better known?

The hon. Lady makes an extremely important point. This Government are committed to tackling violence against women and girls in every form, which is why we announced our cross-Government strategy for tackling VAWG in December. I will happily speak to colleagues across the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to ensure that her points are properly addressed.

Many of the practitioners who sell the heinous crime of female genital mutilation also sell exorcisms of children. Thousands of children have died from these so-called exorcisms over the past 10 years, including from the black African community here in the UK. Does the Solicitor General have any consideration of what needs to be done in the law to protect these children?

Female genital mutilation is an abhorrent practice and I am determined to see more prosecutions. Earlier this week, I spoke at the Crown Prosecution Service’s second national multi-agency conference on honour-based abuse, where I was privileged to have survivors share their stories with me and was moved by their bravery and advocacy for others. I agree with them that we urgently need to improve the criminal justice response to these cases. Last December I attended the first national honour-based abuse scrutiny panel, hosted by the CPS, and will continue to work closely with the service on this matter.

The violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy committed to conducting an additional study, building on the University of Birmingham study, to explore the viability of the recommended approach in producing a national prevalence estimate for forced marriage and FGM.

This study is due to conclude in March after which the Government will review the findings of both studies in the round and consider next steps, including publication.

We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.

As this is a free e-learning module and not mandatory, we do not hold information regarding the reasons for not attempting or completing the module.

There are a range of services available to support women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) including treatment, counselling, and further referrals to urology and gynaecology, depending on clinical need.

Data published in the FGM Enhanced Dataset records the number of FGM-related attendances in National Health Service settings. This data is published by NHS England and shows health attendances by patients where FGM was identified or a procedure for FGM was undertaken. The FGM data is collected by NHS healthcare providers in England, including acute hospitals, mental health services, and general practices. The following table shows the number of individual women and girls who had an attendance where FGM was identified, and the number of FGM related attendances for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:

Source: Female Genital Mutilation, Annual Report - April 2024 to March 2025, published by NHS England, and available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/female-genital-mutilation/april-2024-to-march-2025
Notes:

1. individuals refers to all patients in the reporting period where FGM was identified or a procedure for FGM was undertaken. Each patient is only counted once; and
2. total attendances refers to all attendances in the reporting period where FGM was identified or a procedure for FGM was undertaken. Women and girls may have one or more attendances in the reporting period. This category includes both newly recorded and previously identified women and girls.

The Home Office, the Department for Education, and the Department of Health and Social Care issued multi-agency statutory guidance on female genital mutilation (FGM), which as updated in July 2020. The guidance ensures that health and other staff understand their role in responding to FGM, and that there are policies and procedures in place to protect women and girls who have undergone or are at risk of FGM.

NHS England is currently updating the e-learning training for the Healthcare FGM Module for publication in 2026. This training has a section on communication and includes the importance of sensitive language, including asking healthcare staff to check which terminology the woman or girl prefers. The training will provide healthcare staff with the skills to consider, recognise, and discuss FGM with the women and girls they support, and provide sensitive and trauma-informed response.

The Department was not consulted prior to the publication of the British Medical Journal Article concerning terminology used in relation to female genital mutilation.

The Government does not tolerate female genital mutilation which can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls. The focus remains on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice.

This includes a mandatory reporting duty for regulated health professionals to report cases of female genital mutilation in girls under 18 years of age to the police.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and average custodial sentence lengths at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, including offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics

The table below provides the number of prosecutions over the past 5 years for offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. There have been no offenders sentenced to immediate custody during this period.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and average custodial sentence lengths at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, including offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics

The table below provides the number of prosecutions over the past 5 years for offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. There have been no offenders sentenced to immediate custody during this period.

The UK has a zero-tolerance approach for all forms of female genital mutilation (FGM) including medicalisation. There is no medical justification for FGM in any circumstances.

The Government's new strategy for tackling Violence against Women and Girls, published on 18 December, sets out the actions we are taking against so-called honour-based violence in the UK, including FGM. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will play its full part in the implementation of that strategy, including ensuring that our posts around the world are communicating its contents as appropriate through their work in each country.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime, it is child abuse, and it can destroy lives. On Thursday 18 December, we published the VAWG Strategy setting out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including on FGM.

The Home Office routinely collects and publishes data on police recorded crime that has been flagged as FGM. In the year ending March 2025, there were 109 FGM offences recorded by the police. We do not collect data on whether these cases involve a risk of FGM taking place abroad or within England and Wales. This data also only represents cases reported to and recorded by the police as FGM. For that reason, it does not reflect the true scale of the crime.

FGM is not confined to one group. It affects many communities and is carried out in various forms. That is why improving our understanding of the scale and nature of this horrific crime is essential to ensure there is adequate support available. Building on a feasibility study conducted by the University of Birmingham in 2024, the Home Office has commissioned a study this financial year to test the viability of producing a national prevalence estimate for FGM (and forced marriage).