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Written question asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour) on Monday, 6 October 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 October 2025. It was answered by Lord Hermer (Labour) on Monday, 20 October 2025 on behalf of the Attorney General.

Racial Hatred: Prosecutions

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish figures identifying the number of successful prosecutions of race hate crimes for each of the past five years since 2020.

Answer

This Government is committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms, including race.

The table below shows the number of convictions and prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for defendants flagged with a racial hate crime monitoring flag for the five financial years from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025. In the last year alone, prosecutions have increased by 16%.

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

Convictions

7,115

8,426

7,630

7,848

9,202

% Convictions

86.7%

84.6%

83.6%

84.7%

85.6%

Prosecutions

8,202

9,961

9,123

9,267

10,750

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

The CPS defines racial hate crime as any incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s ethnicity or perceived ethnicity.

The volumes reported above for the financial year 2020/21 reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including court closures from mid-March to the end of June 2020 and the subsequent recovery period. Caution should therefore be exercised in making comparisons with previous or later years.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL10749
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Prosecutions Racial hatred
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk