GPs need to improve knowledge of FGM, say MPs

A report from the Commons home affairs committee is particularly critical of inactivity by health professional groups to tackle FGM.

It says: "Doctors and health workers are in the front line in the fight against FGM. We do not believe that enough is being done by the royal colleges to encourage their members to report cases of FGM."

In particular, MPs call on the Royal College of GPs to do more to "inform every single doctor about this practice and give them an indication of where adequate training can be provided".

Committee chair Keith Vaz said: "Doctors are on the front line. Their professional organisations must do more to encourage their members to report cases of FGM. Without their active reporting of these cases, the full extent of FGM will remain hidden.

"FGM is an ongoing national scandal which is likely to have resulted in the preventable mutilation of thousands of girls. Successive governments, politicians, the police, health, education and social care sectors should all share responsibility for the failure to respond adequately to the growing prevalence of FGM in the UK."

He said that ignorance about FGM among health professionals was a key factor in a failure of police to bring any successful prosecutions related to FGM.

He added: "The director of public prosecutions informed the committee that she could only prosecute on the basis of evidence, the police said that they could only investigate on the basis of referral, and the health professionals told us that they could not refer cases because their members were not fully trained and aware of the procedure. While agencies play pass the parcel of responsibility, young girls are being mutilated every hour of every day."

The report also backs the provision in the Serious Crime Act to introduce mandatory reporting of FGM by health, education and social care professionals. But MPs want to see a clear set of sanctions in place for those that flout the law that ranges from compulsory training to criminal prosecution for intentional or repeated failures to report the practice.

The Royal College of GPs has been contacted for comment.