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 whether they plan to initiate an inquiry into grooming gangs.

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

The Government's priority is to support victims and survivors and take action on delivering against the recommendations of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

The Government will continue to support further inquiries that are needed to expose failings and wrongdoings in local areas and institutions. It is right that these take place at a localised level so that those directly responsible for delivering services work to improve those services and ensure lessons are learnt.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 January (HL3896), how and when they propose to “support victims and take action on delivering against the recommendations of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse”; and how their proposed localised inquiries will compel witnesses to give evidence about girls trafficked across county boundaries.

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

Further to my previous response, the Government will lay out a clear timetable before Easter on how we will take forward the 20 recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. We will also set up a new panel to ensure victims' and survivors' voices are prioritised in future policy making.

We have been clear that local authorities, who are responsible for delivering local services, are best placed to commission local inquiries, and we stand ready to support as we can. That is why the Home Secretary announced to Parliament on the 6 and 16 January 2025 a range of measures, including stronger national backing for local inquiries and funding provisions to help local councils set up their own reviews. The Home Office will develop a new effective framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, and work with Oldham Council and four other pilot areas to implement it. Additionally, local councils which are yet to hold regional investigations where the group-based sexual offences have been more prevalent will be urged to conduct their own reviews to prevent offending happening again.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January, which set out the actions the Government is taking forward to improve our response to, and understanding of, child sexual exploitation and abuse, including group-based abuse This includes improving the data available on the perpetration of these crimes and the Home Secretary has asked the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to expand the ethnicity data it collects and publishes - gathering data from the end of the investigation when a fuller picture is available.

The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, including what is known about the demographics of perpetrators and victims, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 January (HL3896), what assessment they have made of the appropriateness of identifying membership of grooming gangs by reference to Pakistani origin.

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

Further to my previous response, the Government will lay out a clear timetable before Easter on how we will take forward the 20 recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. We will also set up a new panel to ensure victims' and survivors' voices are prioritised in future policy making.

We have been clear that local authorities, who are responsible for delivering local services, are best placed to commission local inquiries, and we stand ready to support as we can. That is why the Home Secretary announced to Parliament on the 6 and 16 January 2025 a range of measures, including stronger national backing for local inquiries and funding provisions to help local councils set up their own reviews. The Home Office will develop a new effective framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, and work with Oldham Council and four other pilot areas to implement it. Additionally, local councils which are yet to hold regional investigations where the group-based sexual offences have been more prevalent will be urged to conduct their own reviews to prevent offending happening again.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January, which set out the actions the Government is taking forward to improve our response to, and understanding of, child sexual exploitation and abuse, including group-based abuse This includes improving the data available on the perpetration of these crimes and the Home Secretary has asked the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to expand the ethnicity data it collects and publishes - gathering data from the end of the investigation when a fuller picture is available.

The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, including what is known about the demographics of perpetrators and victims, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 January (HL3896), what assessment they have made of the proportion of Muslims among members of grooming gangs.

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

Further to my previous response, the Government will lay out a clear timetable before Easter on how we will take forward the 20 recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. We will also set up a new panel to ensure victims' and survivors' voices are prioritised in future policy making.

We have been clear that local authorities, who are responsible for delivering local services, are best placed to commission local inquiries, and we stand ready to support as we can. That is why the Home Secretary announced to Parliament on the 6 and 16 January 2025 a range of measures, including stronger national backing for local inquiries and funding provisions to help local councils set up their own reviews. The Home Office will develop a new effective framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, and work with Oldham Council and four other pilot areas to implement it. Additionally, local councils which are yet to hold regional investigations where the group-based sexual offences have been more prevalent will be urged to conduct their own reviews to prevent offending happening again.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary's statement made on 16 January, which set out the actions the Government is taking forward to improve our response to, and understanding of, child sexual exploitation and abuse, including group-based abuse This includes improving the data available on the perpetration of these crimes and the Home Secretary has asked the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to expand the ethnicity data it collects and publishes - gathering data from the end of the investigation when a fuller picture is available.

The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, including what is known about the demographics of perpetrators and victims, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

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.