Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much police time since 2014 has been spent recording and investigating non-criminal hate incidents, and how this compares with the amount of time spent investigating crimes involving (1) rape, (2) burglary and (3) Islamist terrorism.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not centrally hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces.
Non-crime hate incidents would not appear on a basic or standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether non-criminal hate incidents are disclosed on prospective employees' criminal records; and if so, what assessment they have made of the implications for the careers of individuals affected.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not centrally hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces.
Non-crime hate incidents would not appear on a basic or standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many non-criminal hate incidents have been recorded but not pursued by police since 2014.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not centrally hold or collate information on the number of non-crime hate incidents recorded by police forces.
Non-crime hate incidents would not appear on a basic or standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent conviction of Stephen Green, whether they intend to introduce legislation to amend the Public Order Act 2023 to ensure that it is not a criminal offence to display publicly Psalm 139 anywhere.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government respects people’s rights provided under Article 9 (freedom of thought, religion and belief), Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Government has recently consulted publicly on non-statutory guidance for section 9. We are currently analysing all responses to the consultation, which closed on 22 January, and we will publish the final guidance in due course.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgeway Independent assurance review into historic child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rochdale, published on 15 January, what percentage of those involved in the grooming gangs were Muslim.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The independent review into historic child sexual exploitation in Rochdale identifies widespread organised sexual exploitation of children involving multiple ‘grooming gangs’. It also highlighted that many potential perpetrators were never investigated or identified.
The report does not disaggregate known offending by individual ‘grooming gang’ nor by ethnicity or religion. However, there are references throughout the report to perpetrators in these particular cases being predominantly ‘Asian’ or British-Pakistani men.
The 2020 Home Office report on Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation sets out the best evidence on ethnicity, age, offender networks, the context in which these crimes are committed and implications for national and local policy. As noted within the report, beyond specific high-profile cases such as in Rochdale or Rotherham, the academic literature highlights significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and group-based child sexual exploitation.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the circumstances in which journalists may lawfully be prevented from attending peaceful public events by (1) the police, and (2) the event organisers.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear that the role of members of the press must be respected. It is vital that journalists are able to do their job freely and without restriction.
Section 17 of the Public Order Act 2023 sets out that the police may not exercise their powers for the sole purpose of preventing a person from observing or reporting on a protest.
However, this does not prevent the police from using their powers, such as the power of arrest, for other purposes, for example to maintain public order and safety.
The use of police powers is an operational matter for the police. The Government is unable to intervene in operational decisions of this nature. To do so would undermine their operational independence.
In most cases, event organisers cannot exclude individuals from freely accessing public spaces.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 13 July (HL8940), whether they have taken any action to protect teachers from any threats to their safety made by Islamist groups.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains focused on supporting those who stand up to extremism.
We keep our response to extremism under constant review to ensure it is best placed to tackle the evolving threat. Alongside the police, we regularly review potential threats to ensure as are doing everything we can to protect our communities.
Advice on the safety of individuals is a matter for the police.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 27 June (HL8551), what criteria are used to determine whether groups or individuals have a "far right outlook".
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Intelligence & Security Committee’s 2022 report on Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism (ERWT) considers “far-right political outlook” as “views that Western civilisations are under threat from ‘non-native’ people and ideas.”
The report categorises ERWT as ‘Cultural Nationalism’, ‘White Nationalism’ and ‘White Supremacism’.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a Batley Grammar Schoolmaster and his family are in hiding after he showed his pupils a picture of Mohammed two years ago.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains dedicated to our commitment to tackling those who spread views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society and must always stand up to those who seek to undermine our fundamental values and spread hate.
The Home Office does not hold information on police protection in relation to this case. This is a matter for West Yorkshire Police, which is operationally independent of Government.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of, and what action they have taken in response to, the review by Sir John Jenkins into the philosophy and values of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its alleged connection with extremists and violence.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Our assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood remains as set out in the summary report published in December 2015, which concluded the movement is a secretive organisation and that parts of it – globally – have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. The UK Government continues to stand by the judgments of the review.
The Government keeps under review the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities and views when appropriate to ensure our position is based on the latest information available and we will consider action in accordance with the five commitments included in the former Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament, if and where legal thresholds are met.