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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Lord Khan of Burnley on 7 May (HL6893), what is the religious composition of the Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group; and when they anticipate that it will report.

Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley

The Working Group includes members from a cross-section of society, who have been selected for their technical expertise, experience and ability to deliver the objectives set out in the Terms of Reference.

Alongside drawing on their own expertise, the Working Group have engaged widely to ensure their proposed definition accounts for the variety of backgrounds and experiences across the United Kingdom.

As noted in the Terms of Reference, the advice provided to the Government by the Group will be private. Once the Government has had time to review the advice, it will consider its next steps.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Khan of Burnley on 7 May (HL6892), whether the stakeholders referred to will include adherents of religions other than Islam.

Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley

The Working Group includes members from a cross-section of society, who have been selected for their technical expertise, experience and ability to deliver the objectives set out in the Terms of Reference.

Alongside drawing on their own expertise, the Working Group have engaged widely to ensure their proposed definition accounts for the variety of backgrounds and experiences across the United Kingdom.

As noted in the Terms of Reference, the advice provided to the Government by the Group will be private. Once the Government has had time to review the advice, it will consider its next steps.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of risk that Islamism, as portrayed by the religionofpeace.com website, poses to the United Kingdom.

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

In the context relevant to the Home Office's responsibility for tackling terrorism, the terrorist threat we see today is more diverse and complex. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlines that in the UK the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, with the remainder driven by Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what disciplinary action, if any, they plan to take against investigators in the Home Office following the successful appeal of “Maria” in the Upper Tribunal, whose case was covered by GB News in May.

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

Everyone working for the Home Office must go through the national security vetting process (NSV) to be granted security clearance. This includes permanent and temporary staff and contractors.

All Civil Servants must adhere to the Civil Service code and values when carrying out their responsibilities and duties, including any Staff Network activity. Any breaches of the Civil Service code are addressed through relevant HR policies and processes. Additionally, Civil Servants must follow the guidance on Diversity and Inclusion and Impartiality for Civil Servants.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what checks are made on the religious backgrounds of Home Office employees responsible for assessing asylum applications; and what percentage of them are Muslims.

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

Everyone working for the Home Office must go through the national security vetting process (NSV) to be granted security clearance. This includes permanent and temporary staff and contractors.

All Civil Servants must adhere to the Civil Service code and values when carrying out their responsibilities and duties, including any Staff Network activity. Any breaches of the Civil Service code are addressed through relevant HR policies and processes. Additionally, Civil Servants must follow the guidance on Diversity and Inclusion and Impartiality for Civil Servants.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a Muslim network in the Home Office; and what assessment they have made of the influence of any such network on the Home Office’s policy and operations, and of any bias in favour of Muslims in asylum applications.

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

Everyone working for the Home Office must go through the national security vetting process (NSV) to be granted security clearance. This includes permanent and temporary staff and contractors.

All Civil Servants must adhere to the Civil Service code and values when carrying out their responsibilities and duties, including any Staff Network activity. Any breaches of the Civil Service code are addressed through relevant HR policies and processes. Additionally, Civil Servants must follow the guidance on Diversity and Inclusion and Impartiality for Civil Servants.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is any process to ensure that asylum applications from converts to Christianity from Islam are not assessed by Muslim Home Office employees.

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

Everyone working for the Home Office must go through the national security vetting process (NSV) to be granted security clearance. This includes permanent and temporary staff and contractors.

All Civil Servants must adhere to the Civil Service code and values when carrying out their responsibilities and duties, including any Staff Network activity. Any breaches of the Civil Service code are addressed through relevant HR policies and processes. Additionally, Civil Servants must follow the guidance on Diversity and Inclusion and Impartiality for Civil Servants.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government which ten local authorities in the UK (1) had the highest proportion of Muslim voters 20 years ago, (2) have the highest proportion of Muslim voters today, (3) they estimate will have the highest proportion of Muslim voters in 2045; and what assessment they have made of the effect this may have on freedom of religion and speech in the UK.

Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley

Electoral registers are held locally in each local authority and not centrally. No demographic data is collected when people register or vote, so we are not able to provide statistics. The Electoral Commission provides some data on voter registration: Explore the data: Who is and isn't registered to vote? | Electoral Commission.

To vote in the United Kingdom, individuals must be registered and meet eligibility criteria based on age, nationality, and residence. Demographic and religious data are not part of the registration process. The Government is clear that everyone has a fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. We do not make assessments on the impact on freedom of religion or speech using electoral registrations or predicted population figures.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Afghans who have been granted asylum in the UK have subsequently returned to Afghanistan for a holiday or to visit relatives.

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

The Government does not publish information on how many Afghans who have been granted asylum in the UK have subsequently returned to Afghanistan for a holiday or to visit relatives.

Where an individual returns to their country of origin, this will usually indicate voluntary re-availment and may lead to revocation of refugee status under paragraph 339A(i)-(vi) or humanitarian protection under paragraph 339GA of the Immigration Rules. Cases are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of teaching at police training colleges, in particular in regard to teaching about hate speech and free speech.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring there are consistent, high standards in police training and leadership to help maintain public trust and confidence. That is why the Home Office continues to fund the College of Policing to deliver support to forces and improvements to leadership and training standards through the National Police Leadership Centre.

The College of Policing sets national guidance and standards for policing in England and Wales, which includes publishing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on hate crime. This APP provides guidance on how police should respond to hate crimes and promotes a proportionate and consistent approach that upholds the rights of victims and protects free speech.

While the College sets the overall framework, individual police forces are responsible for determining their own local delivery of training.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs will consider the role that religion or culture played in enabling or facilitating abuse by grooming gangs, and not only the role that those factors played in responses to the abuse, as outlined in paragraph 4.3 of the draft terms of reference.

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

On 9 December 2025, the Home Secretary published the draft Terms of Reference for the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and asked the Chair to consult on them.

Following the consultation, the Chair will make recommendations to the Home Secretary. Final Terms of Reference will be agreed and published by 31 March 2026. The Home Secretary has been clear (in her Oral Statement of 9 December) that the inquiry will consider, explicitly, the background of offenders – including their ethnicity, religion and culture – and whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what happened out of a misplaced desire to protect community cohesion. The inquiry will act without fear or favour, identifying individual, institutional and systemic failure, inadequate organisational responses, and failures of leadership.

The Home Secretary has also commissioned new research from UK Research and Innovation to address longstanding gaps in our understanding of perpetrators’ backgrounds and motivations, including factors such as ethnicity and religion.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what powers the independent inquiry into grooming gangs will have to compel the production of evidence.

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

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs is a statutory inquiry, under the Inquiries Act 2005, with full powers to compel evidence.

The Home Secretary has published draft Terms of Reference, which include consideration of ethnicity, religion and culture. The Chair is currently consulting on these draft terms; however, the Home Secretary has made clear that the inclusion of ethnicity, religion and culture is not subject to change.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will amend the terms of reference of the independent inquiry into grooming gangs to examine the role of religion and culture in the abuse.

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

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs is a statutory inquiry, under the Inquiries Act 2005, with full powers to compel evidence.

The Home Secretary has published draft Terms of Reference, which include consideration of ethnicity, religion and culture. The Chair is currently consulting on these draft terms; however, the Home Secretary has made clear that the inclusion of ethnicity, religion and culture is not subject to change.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what they mean by "not considered to be conducive to the public good" in relation to the blocking of Eva Vlaardingerbroek from entering the United Kingdom; whether they will reverse this decision; and, if not, why not.

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

It is our long-standing policy that we do not comment on individual cases.

I can advise you that following the refusal or cancellation of an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) document; the customer may still apply for the appropriate UK visa. This allows for a full consideration of their circumstances and may provide an alternative avenue to travel.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have been refused entry to the UK in the last 10 years due to extreme left-wing political views; and whether they will detail their names.

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

The Home Office is committed to countering extremism in all its forms where it divides communities and inflames tensions. Regardless of the worldview it draws from, if an ideology is causing harm by radicalising others into hatred, violence and extremism we will take action to prevent this and to safeguard susceptible individuals.

The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 27 January (HL13553), who is responsible for conducting the research into grooming gang perpetrators' backgrounds and motivations; when that research is expected to be complete; and when that research will be published.

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

The Home Secretary has commissioned UK Research and Innovation to deliver this new programme of research, which will address evidence gaps in our understanding of the backgrounds, motivations, and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation offending. We expect the programme of research to be a multi-year project, with individual research projects reporting through its duration. Further details will be announced in due course.

Found: Figures obtained by Lord Pearson of Rannoch in 2018 and analysed by the Consumer Watch Foundation, found