§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied with the implementation of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985; and how many prosecutions have been brought for contraventions.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Baroness Trumpington)Yes. The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act bans a potentially harmful, though rare in this country, practice. The Act came into force on 16th September 1985; no prosecutions were brought thereafter in 1985. Information on court proceedings for 1986 is not yet available. Grants (totalling £86,000 from 1985–86 to 1987–88) are being paid to voluntary organisations to fund schemes to promote an information and education campaign about the Act's implications and the health problems to which female circumcision may give rise.