Appendix
I am pleased to be able to provide you with the Government's
formal response to the recommendations made by the Committee in
their Fifth Report of Session 2003-04. This response includes
input from the Police Service of Northern Ireland on recommendations
which have an impact on them.
I have also just received your letter of 22 June
enclosing a copy of your letter to the Chief Constable. As some
of the issues bear upon the Committee's main report, in advance
of Chief Constable's reply, I thought it worth taking this early
opportunity to respond. I trust that my response to the Inquiry
report will provide the assurances you require.
The Committee's recommendations
The Committee made three recommendations in respect
of the Government's proposed "hate crime" legislation.
It recommended the inclusion of disability within the draft proposed
Order. Members also said they expected to see the problem of "hate
crime" tackled more vigorously in future by the Police Service
of Northern Ireland. They also recommended that statistics should
be collected by the Government and PSNI for incidents of "hate
crime" against disabled people.
Inclusion of disability
The Committee urged the Government to amend the proposed
draft Order to afford protection from "hate crime" to
people with disabilities. As outlined in my letter of 15 June,
I have accepted the Committee's recommendation and approved the
inclusion in the draft Order of provisions to protect people with
disabilities. This brings the law in Northern Ireland into line
with that in England and Wales.
Tackling "Hate Crime"
The Committee stated that they expected to see the
problem of "hate crime" tackled more vigorously in the
future by the Police Service of Northern Ireland than appears
to have been the case in the past. Your recent letter expresses
particular concerns.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is fully committed
to protecting members of minority and vulnerable groups and will
continue to ensure that this is the case. This has been evidenced
in South Belfast where additional Minority Liaison Officers have
been appointed, extra patrols have been directed into areas where
attacks have taken place and information leaflets were distributed
into 29,000 homes asking for the public's support in preventing
and reporting incidents to police.
Whilst the Police Service welcomes the increase in
reporting of both racial and homophobic incidents during 2003/2004,
which is believed to reflect the efforts made over the past months
to encourage reporting and build confidence, it recognises that
actual incidents and the nature of incidents has increased. Every
effort will and must be made to deal effectively with incidents
of this nature.
The Police Service are currently developing a Hate
Crime Policy which will be aimed at ensuring the delivery of a
consistent, robust, proactive and effective approach when dealing
with racial and homophobic hate crime. Included in this policy
will be the introduction of policy in respect of the monitoring
and investigation of sectarian incidents and hate incidents perpetrated
on persons with disabilities.
Collecting statistics
The Committee recommended that statistics should
be collected by the Government and PSNI for incidents of "hate
crime" against disabled people.
The recording of hate incidents against persons with
disabilities will be included in the new Hate Crime Police Service
Policy. This policy will introduce the monitoring and recording
of sectarian incidents and incidents against persons with disabilities.
It will complement and develop the procedures introduced in 1997
to investigate and monitor racial incidents and in 2000 those
introduced for homophobic incidents. The 29 District Minority
Liaison Officers continue to work to monitor incidents and support
victims of Hate Crime.
The considerable effort by the Police Service in
recent months to encourage reporting of such incidents by the
introduction and development of a number of further means to report
Hate Incidents, including third party reporting, Crime Stoppers
and internet reporting demonstrates the Police Service's commitment
to deal effectively with hate crime and we believe this has been
reflected in the increase in reported incidents during 2003/2004.
The Police Service fully recognise the need to continue
to work to support victims and prevent hate crime and where possible
ensure that those who perpetrate such crimes are held to account.
The Chief Constable will no doubt provide you with similar assurances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity
to thank the Committee for their interest in this important issue.
And I would like to thank you as Chairman for prioritising the
legislative aspect of your Inquiry and for the swift issue of
the Committee's report.
I would hope to be able to advise the Committee of
the laying the draft Order shortly, thus ensuring—subject
to Parliamentary consideration and approval—that this important
new piece of legislation is on the statute books as soon as possible.
As we take the new legislation forward, we will be ensuring that
all criminal justice agencies are fully briefed on its content
and importance and prepared for its commencement.
I believe that the measures which Government is proposing
will help to ensure that "hate crime" is dealt with
effectively in Northern Ireland and a strong message will be sent
out that crimes of this nature will not be tolerated.
Once again thank you and Committee members for their
interest in and commitment to this important matter. Your work
has been extremely important in helping Government take forward
its legislative proposals.
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