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Hate Crime

Asked by Rupert LoweRestore BritainHome OfficeTabled Answered 9 July 2026UIN 16712

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has for the retention, review and deletion of historic non-crime hate incident records following the replacement of the non-crime hate incident system.

Answered by Sarah Jones

Under the replacement system proposed by the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council in their joint review of non-crime hate incidents, hate-related non-criminal behaviour will be recorded only where there is a clear policing purpose, and then within existing anti-social behaviour frameworks using prejudice qualifiers.

The Government has no plans to change the arrangements for the retention, review or deletion of historic non-crime hate incident records under the new approach.

The review did not recommend the blanket deletion of historic records, as this could result in the loss of information that, in some circumstances, may remain relevant to safeguarding and risk management decisions.

In addition, a wholesale review of historic records for deletion would require a significant manual assessment of records, diverting police resources from core duties.

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