To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications for a Forced Marriage Protection Order have been made since the coming into force of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007; and how many have been successful.
Answered on
23 December 2014
Forced marriage is an appalling practice and should not be tolerated. That's why the Government has criminalised forced marriage to ensure that victims are protected by the law. The new offences of forced marriage in section 121 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came into force on 16 June.
Since the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 came into force on 25 November 2008 and up to the end of September 2014, 762 applications for a forced marriage protection order have been made, and 785 forced marriage protection orders have been issued. The number of orders made generally exceeds the number of applications as forced marriage protection orders are sometimes made during the course of applications for other family orders, and there is no differentiation between interim orders and final orders.
Section 120 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which also came into force on 16 June 2014, made it a criminal offence to breach a forced marriage protection order. There were 63 applications for a forced marriage protection order in the period 1 July to 30 September 2014.