Asked by: Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of failing to include other faiths, including Sikhs, in the terms of reference for the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition.
Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. Hate crime has no place in our communities. Our efforts to build a country of tolerance and inclusion apply to people of all faiths and none.
The government recognises that the common misidentification of Sikhs as Muslims can compound the burden of religious hatred and discrimination faced by Sikhs. The terms of reference for the group recognise that anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia can also impact communities that are perceived to be Muslim, and that cultural markers adopted by wider faith communities like Sikh, Hindu, Jain and Buddhists are often used to attack communities that are mistakenly identified as Muslim.
The group will consult with a wide variety of stakeholders to ensure that the voices of all relevant stakeholders are heard and considered.
Though the work of the Group will be independent, Ministers and officials will meet regularly to ensure the work is developing in line with the objective set out in the Terms of Reference. The Government retains the right to not accept the recommendations made by the Working Group.
Asked by: Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to include Sikhs in discussions about a definition of Islamophobia, given Sikhs are frequently mistaken for Muslims in incidents of hate crime.
Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. Hate crime has no place in our communities. Our efforts to build a country of tolerance and inclusion apply to people of all faiths and none.
The government recognises that the common misidentification of Sikhs as Muslims can compound the burden of religious hatred and discrimination faced by Sikhs. The terms of reference for the group recognise that anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia can also impact communities that are perceived to be Muslim, and that cultural markers adopted by wider faith communities like Sikh, Hindu, Jain and Buddhists are often used to attack communities that are mistakenly identified as Muslim.
The group will consult with a wide variety of stakeholders to ensure that the voices of all relevant stakeholders are heard and considered.
Though the work of the Group will be independent, Ministers and officials will meet regularly to ensure the work is developing in line with the objective set out in the Terms of Reference. The Government retains the right to not accept the recommendations made by the Working Group.
Asked by: Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 14 January (HL Deb, col 7), what measures they have put in place to ensure equal consideration of all faiths in the development and implementation of policy relating to discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as a public authority, has a duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 to have due regard to the need to assess the impact of our policies on people with protected characteristics, and to consider whether it is possible to mitigate or avoid any negative impacts. This includes people with a faith or belief. For each policy, we complete an Equality Impact Assessment. To assist with completing these assessments, in addition to formal consultations, MHCLG Ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of partners, from across faiths and beliefs, to discuss policy considerations. This engagement includes our quarterly Sikh stakeholder roundtable and Lord Bourne’s England-wide Faith Tours.
Asked by: Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 14 January (HL Deb, col 7), what evidence there is that there are more attacks on the Muslim community than any other.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government treats all forms of hate crime equally seriously. Two separate statistical sources used by Government show the scale of hate crimes targeted at Muslims in relation to hate crimes against other faith groups.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), published by the Office for National Statistics in October 2018, portrays the experience of hate crime. It is estimated that 0.1 per cent of adults (105,459) were victims of a religiously motivated hate crime in the 12 months prior to interview. The 2015/16 to 2017/18 CSEW showed that 0.8% of Muslim adults were the victim of religiously motivated hate crime, which was the highest percentage for a faith group where data is available.
The full breakdown from the CSEW is as follows:
Christian - (61,804) 0.0%
Buddhist - (489) 0.%
Hindu 0.5 - (1,326) 0.5%
Muslim - (3,480) 0.8%
Other - (1,553) 0.2%
No religion - (36,518) 0.0%
Statistics for police recorded crime, also published in October 2018, show that hate crimes motivated by religion have increased by 40% from 2016/17 to 2017/18, representing the largest percentage increase of all hate crime strands (comprising race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender). The 2017/18 police statistics were the first to reflect the mandatory break down of hate crime reporting by perceived religion, and provided a breakdown based on the targeted religion of victims of religiously motivated hate crimes . They show that 52% of religiously-motivated hate crimes recorded by the police comprised anti-Muslim hostility.
The full breakdown of police recorded hate crime is as follows:
Buddhist - (19) 0%
Christian - (264) 5%
Hindu - (58) 1%
Jewish - (672) 12%
Muslim - (2,965) 52%
Sikh - (117) 2%
Other - (311) 5%
No religion - (237) 4%
Unknown - (1,174) 21%
Total number of targeted religions 5,817
Total number of offences 5,680