Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding has been awarded in total from the Community Ownership Fund to communities seeking to turn places of worship into assets of community value.

Answered by Baroness Swinburne

The £150 million Community Ownership Fund helps communities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets at risk of closure.

Current and former places of worship and their attached community hubs are one of the many asset types that the fund supports, though not specifically recorded as such. We recognise the important role these places have in building our social fabric and boosting pride in place by bringing people together. Some of the great projects we have already supported include The Light Church Bradford, The Open House in Sheffield, and The Old Synagogue in Belfast – all of which are providing valuable services to their community.

A full list of successful projects is available on GOV.UK at: Community Ownership Fund: successful bidders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government which places of worship have received support from the Community Ownership Fund.

Answered by Baroness Swinburne

The £150 million Community Ownership Fund helps communities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets at risk of closure.

Current and former places of worship and their attached community hubs are one of the many asset types that the fund supports, though not specifically recorded as such. We recognise the important role these places have in building our social fabric and boosting pride in place by bringing people together. Some of the great projects we have already supported include The Light Church Bradford, The Open House in Sheffield, and The Old Synagogue in Belfast – all of which are providing valuable services to their community.

A full list of successful projects is available on GOV.UK at: Community Ownership Fund: successful bidders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable local communities to safeguard places of worship through the Community Ownership Fund.

Answered by Baroness Swinburne

The £150 million Community Ownership Fund helps communities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets at risk of closure.

Current and former places of worship and their attached community hubs are one of the many asset types that the fund supports, though not specifically recorded as such. We recognise the important role these places have in building our social fabric and boosting pride in place by bringing people together. Some of the great projects we have already supported include The Light Church Bradford, The Open House in Sheffield, and The Old Synagogue in Belfast – all of which are providing valuable services to their community.

A full list of successful projects is available on GOV.UK at: Community Ownership Fund: successful bidders - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Car Wash Code of Practice Project Report: Home Office Modern Slavery Prevention Fund, published by Nottingham Trent University and submitted to the Home Office in October 2022.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office funded the evaluation report conducted by the Responsible Car Wash Scheme and Nottingham Trent University, as part of its grant funding under the Modern Slavery Prevention Fund, a one-off pot of funding to build the evidence base on what interventions work to prevent modern slavery.

The Home Office has shared the evaluation of this project with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority so the lessons from this project can be incorporated into operational activity to improve standards within the hand car wash sector. The Government has no plans to respond directly to the report.

In addition, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) sets out the scale and nature of labour exploitation in their annual strategy to ensure the three labour market enforcement bodies are targeting the highest-risk industries. The most recent 23-24 DLME strategy highlights hand car washes as a sector at risk of labour exploitation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to the report Car Wash Code of Practice Project Report: Home Office Modern Slavery Prevention Fund, published by Nottingham Trent University and submitted to the Home Office in October 2022.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office funded the evaluation report conducted by the Responsible Car Wash Scheme and Nottingham Trent University, as part of its grant funding under the Modern Slavery Prevention Fund, a one-off pot of funding to build the evidence base on what interventions work to prevent modern slavery.

The Home Office has shared the evaluation of this project with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority so the lessons from this project can be incorporated into operational activity to improve standards within the hand car wash sector. The Government has no plans to respond directly to the report.

In addition, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) sets out the scale and nature of labour exploitation in their annual strategy to ensure the three labour market enforcement bodies are targeting the highest-risk industries. The most recent 23-24 DLME strategy highlights hand car washes as a sector at risk of labour exploitation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals referred to the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery after arriving in the UK irregularly since January 2022 were referred because of (1) exploitation which happened in the UK, and (2) trafficking to the UK.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes statistics on irregular arrivals to the UK, including those arriving via small boats, in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk. Data on National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals from small boat arrivals and the outcomes of these referrals is published in tables Irr_D04 and Irr_D05 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, with the latest data up to the end of May 2023.

The Home Office does not publish data on modern slavery referrals for other irregular arrivals, or data on the nature or location of the exploitation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals referred to the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery after arriving in the UK irregularly since January 2022 have been given (1) a positive reasonable grounds decision, (2) a negative reasonable grounds decision, (3) a positive conclusive grounds decision, and (4) a negative conclusive grounds decision.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes statistics on irregular arrivals to the UK, including those arriving via small boats, in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk. Data on National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals from small boat arrivals and the outcomes of these referrals is published in tables Irr_D04 and Irr_D05 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, with the latest data up to the end of May 2023.

The Home Office does not publish data on modern slavery referrals for other irregular arrivals, or data on the nature or location of the exploitation.

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: During the session on 15th April 2024, The Lord Bishop of Bristol and Baroness Barker requested further

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: Bishop of Bristol; Baroness Hamwee; Lord Hope of Craighead; Lord Kempsell; Lord Randall of Uxbridge

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: The Lord Bishop of Bristol: To pick up on that, we have talked a lot about organisational focus and

Found: The Lord Bishop of Bristol: To pick up on that, we have talked a lot about organisational focus and

Found: The Lord Bishop of Bristol: To pick up on that, we have talked a lot about organisational focus and

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: Bishop of Bristol; Baroness Butler-Sloss; Baroness Hamwee; Lord Hope of Craighead; Lord Kempsell

Found: Bishop of Bristol; Baroness Butler-Sloss; Baroness Hamwee; Lord Hope of Craighead; Lord Kempsell

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (The Chair); Baroness Barker; The Lord

Found: Bishop of Bristol; Baroness Butler-Sloss; Baroness Hamwee; Lord Hope of Craighead; Lord Kempsell

Found: 5 LORD BLUNKETT THE LORD BISHOP OF ST EDMUNDSBURY AND IPSWICH BARONESS CHAKRABARTI THE LORD

Found: Ladyton, Lord Stirrup, Lord Alton of Liverpool, B aroness Chakrabarti, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, The Lord

Found: Lord Anderson of Ipswich, Baroness Chakrabarti, Baroness D’Souza, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, The Lord

Found: Lord Anderson of Ipswich, Baroness Chakrabarti, Baroness D’Souza, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, The Lord

Found: Ladyton, Lord Stirrup, Lord Alton of Liverpool, B aroness Chakrabarti, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, The Lord