Summer break alert on forced marriages

SCHOOLS have been urged to be vigilant about potential cases of forced marriage as the summer holidays approach.

Government guidelines were issued to teachers, doctors and police to help identify and tackle the problem. The summer break is a peak time for incidents of young people, usually girls, being taken to south Asia in particular and forced by their families to marry.

Figures from the Forced Marriage Unit suggest that 70 per cent of cases involved families of Pakistani origin and 11 per cent of a Bangladeshi background.

Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant said tell-tale signs included evidence of self-harm or a sudden lack of interest in academic work.

There have been 770 calls to the unit so far this year, 16 per cent more than in the same period last year.