Forced marriages

Back in the day, in 2007, when I was Joint Prsident of ADCS, I found myself developing rapid expertise in unfamiliar areas; one of these was forced marriages, where we had been called to give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee. I carried out some quick research with DCS collegaues, and also with (what was then) the DCSF, and came to the rapid conclusion that forced mariages of children - up to the age of 18 - was extremely rare and that the evidenced examples could be counted on the fingers of one hand. This did not fit the preconceptions of the Committee, as there had been some questionable local research which, when extrapolated across the UK, gave some very disturbing figures. And the 'missing children' statistics, while deeply worrying, did not lead to the general conclusion that forced marriage was a risk - for example, where a local authority had lost touch with a traveller family, or where there was clear evidence of risks other than forced marriage. So I faced some hostile questioning, and closed my response by proposing further systematic research to confirm my evidence, or otherwise; an offer which was accepted by the Committee, but as far as I know the research has never been carried out .