asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith on 19 February 2007 (WA 175), whether they will identify the religion or belief of perpetrators as well as those of victims in the Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report 2007-08. [HL3091]

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) introduced the facility to record the religion or belief of defendants and victims in April 2007. Figures for the first year's data collection between April 2007 and March 2008 have yet to be audited and validated as suitable for publication; initial indications are that the police did not provide the CPS with the required information in a large number of cases.

The CPS will publish its first annual hate crime report covering the year 2007-08 by November 2008. This report will for the first time draw together performance information about all hate-crime prosecutions. It will replace the Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report.