§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in the collection of information for the Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report, they will ask the police authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service to identify the racial or religious origin of both perpetrator and victim; and whether they will extend the tables in the annual report to show this information for each offence category. [HL1208]
§ The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith)Her Majesty's Government have no immediate plans to ask the police authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service to identify the racial or religious origin of the perpetrator and victim, in order that such information may be included in the Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report.
Some information on the ethnicity of defendants is currently recorded by the police and Crown Prosecution Service, based on self-classification.
We recognise this is an issue that needs to be addressed and this will be the subject of further review and consultation.
Any possible extension to the tables in the annual report will he considered as part of an overall review.