A community-led conference organised to tackle the issue of forced marriages was to start today in Bradford as shocking new figures were revealed on the scale of the problem.

The conference follows the publication of a report which shows that Bradford accounts for 80 per cent of all cases of forced marriages in West Yorkshire.

In 2005 there were 144 incidents reported in Bradford and district that related to the practice.

For West Yorkshire as a whole, most of the incidents involved the 19-to-24 age group, followed by the 25-to-34 age group.

PC Zoe George, the Bradford District Community Relations Co-ordinator for West Yorkshire Police, has helped organise today's event.

"This stems from a conference held in 2003 about forced marriages," she said.

"After that conference we carried out a study of forced marriages in Bradford, how the problem could be tackled and produced a report."

The report is called "Forced Marriage/Arranged Marr-iage. What is the difference?"

It has been submitted to the Home Office and was due to be published today at the conference.

Recommendations in the report include:

l working with young people to raise awareness

l creating a safe reporting centre

l offering support to families experiencing forced marriages

l looking at ways to get support from religious scholars.

l developing a district strategy.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh was to speak at the event being held at the Grange Interlink centre in Great Horton.

"This is not a police event. It has been set up by the community for the community," said PC George.

Earlier this month, Keighley MP Ann Cryer urged the Government to make forced marriage a new criminal offence.

Whitehall has yet to announce whether it will outlaw the practice.

Last week an Asian celebrity-backed campaign to increase awareness about forced marriages was introduced by the Foreign Office in partnership with the Home Office.