To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of forced marriages which occurred in (a) Lancashire and (b) England in each of the last five years. (268185)

We know that forced marriage is a hidden issue, where many victims are too afraid to come forward and seek help. Given this, it is difficult to assess the true scale of the problem. The Government’s Forced Marriage Unit deal with a significant number of cases every year. However, it is only possible to give figures for the whole of the UK, as opposed to specific regions.

In 2008, the FMU dealt with 420 cases (213 assistance cases, and 207 reluctant sponsor cases).

In 2007, the FMU dealt with 251 cases (165 assistance cases and 86 reluctant sponsor cases).

In 2006, the FMU dealt with 182 cases (99 assistance cases, and 83 reluctant sponsors).

In 2005, the FMU dealt with 152 cases (not broken down into assistance and reluctant sponsor cases).

In 2008, the FMU began keeping more detailed statistics on all reportings of forced marriage that were referred to the FMU. During the whole of 2008, the FMU received reports of over 1,600 possible forced marriage cases. Of those who gave a location, 15 per cent. were in the North West region. Unfortunately these statistics are not broken down by county.