Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support the United Nations Pact for the Future; and, if so, why.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

On 22 September, the Pact for the Future and its accompanying annexes, a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, was adopted by consensus in the United Nations General Assembly. In a speech to the General Assembly on 26 September, the Prime Minister emphasised the UK's support for the Pact for the Future. The Pact provides a critical opportunity for UN Member States to make real-world impact to turbocharge delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and set a blueprint for how reinvigorated multilateralism can respond to today and tomorrow's challenges.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to Stephen Yaxley-Lennon's safety on the prison estate; and whether they intend to discuss this with the governor of Belmarsh.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

You will understand that the requirements of data protection legislation mean that I am unable to comment on the circumstances of specific individual prisoners.

I do want to assure you, however, that the safety of those who live and work in our prisons remains our paramount concern. The decision on where a prisoner should be located will take into account a range of factors, the purpose of which is to assign an individual to a suitably secure establishment which meets their needs effectively.

Any prisoner who has a specific concern about their time in prison can make a complaint via the internal prisoner complaints process and will be entitled to ask the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to conduct an independent review of the matter, should it not be resolved to their satisfaction. Prisoners can also request to speak to a member of their prison’s Independent Monitoring Board.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will sign the Climate Intelligence World Climate Declaration; and, if not, why not.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The World Climate Declaration is not consistent with the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, the most authoritative assessment of climate science globally, and the Government has no plans to sign it.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the report by Oxfam Climate Finance Unchecked, published on 17 October, which states that between $24 billion and $41 billion of World Bank climate finance is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices; and how much funding the UK has provided to the World Bank over the last 7 years in climate finance.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The FCDO and World Bank recognise the need to provide clearer and more timely information on World Bank climate initiatives and we are pushing them to explore ways to do that, as part of broader efforts to improve transparency.

We have reservations about the findings in the Oxfam report due to the methodology adopted. The World Bank disburses over 95 per cent of funds allocated to climate projects, and undisbursed funds are repurposed for other development needs. The World Bank's operations are also subjected to strict oversight and independent audits, in line with international standards.

The UK has provided £3.9 billion to the World Bank's International Development Association, the fund for the poorest countries, over the last four years - of which approximately 38 per cent was spent on climate-related programmes. We are also a 4 per cent shareholder in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which lends to middle-income countries, and last year committed $38 billion. The Bank has a target for 45 per cent of its spending to be on climate related programmes.

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.

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.

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.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for monitoring mosques and madrassas.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Security Service and Counter-Terrorism Policing, which are operationally independent of government, determine their own investigative priorities. These will be informed by the risk posed by individuals or groups, and their activities. This is not based on the religious affiliation that certain premises have.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for prohibiting the religious solemnisation of unregistered marriages to ensure that Muslim wives have the protection of divorce law.

Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Marriage Act 1949 has long made provision for couples, including Muslim couples, to marry in their place of worship in a way that gives them legal rights and protections. While some couples intentionally choose to have a religious-only marriage, it is concerning that some individuals may not realise that their non-legally binding marriage lacks the legal protections that come with a legal marriage.

That is why the Government committed in its 2024 manifesto to ‘strengthen the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples’, including those in religious-only marriages. We will set out the next steps on delivering this manifesto commitment in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for banning the wearing of a burka in public.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

No such assessment has been made.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the population was Muslim at the time of the last census, and what is their projection for the next 10 years.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Pearson of Rannoch

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

23 December 2024

Dear Lord Pearson,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of the population was Muslim at the time of the last census, and what is their projection for the next 10 years (HL3696).

Please see Table 1 which includes the data on the proportion of the population that identified as Muslim in the 2021 Census. Please note that this is a voluntary question which had a 94% response rate to the question.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not currently produce projections on religion or any other characteristic that might indicate the size of the Muslim population in the future.

Table 1: 2021 Census dataset for England and Wales, including total usual residents, Muslims, and not answered[1].

Source: Office for National Statistics

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]In order to protect against disclosure of personal information, records have been swapped between different geographic areas and counts perturbed by small amounts. Small counts at the lowest geographies will be most affected.