Policy background Response to Law Commission report on hate crime laws
The Government recognises that hate crime legislation, having been developed and added to over time, has prompted concerns that it is not sufficiently coherent and is difficult for practitioners and criminal justice agencies to implement.  In 2018, the Government therefore commissioned the Law Commission - a statutorily independent body that reviews laws and produces recommendations for their reform in England and Wales - to review hate crime laws. This review examined the coverage and approach of existing hate crime legislation, including consideration of whether sex and/or gender should be added to existing hate crime laws.
	The Law Commission published its final recommendations in December 2021. Recommendation 8 of the Law Commission report stated: "We [the Law Commission] recommend that sex or gender should not be added as a protected characteristic for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing." Its report highlighted concerns relating to the potential negative consequences of adding sex or gender to hate crime laws, concluding that adding sex or gender to hate crime laws would be "more harmful than helpful, both to victims of violence against women and girls, and also to efforts to tackle hate crime more broadly." The full report can be found here.
	As a consequence of the Law Commission’s recommendation, the Government subsequently disagreed with amendments tabled to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that sought to add sex and/or gender to hate crime legislation. However, the Government recognises the strength of public feeling in relation to this issue, and violence against women and girls more generally. Section 72 therefore gives effect to the Government’s commitment to prepare and publish a response to Recommendation 8 of the report within a year of the Act coming into effect. This response will be laid before Parliament.
	Under the Law Commissions Act 1965, there is a formal legal requirement for the Government to report to Parliament annually on the extent to which the Government has implemented Law Commission recommendations from the preceding year. The Government’s formal response to Recommendation 8 will be included in the full response to the Law Commission report.