Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle Islamophobia in (a) Tower Hamlets, (b) London and (c) England.

This Government has pledged to tackle prejudice, racism and discrimination. We already have some of the strongest legislation in the world to tackle hate crime and, where groups incite racial hatred or are engaged in racially or religiously motivated criminal activity, we would expect them to be prosecuted.

This Government’s work to tackle the scourge of anti-Muslim hatred is extensive, and includes:

· supporting Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) with more than £2.8 million since 2016, helping to monitor and combat anti-Muslim hatred;

· providing almost £5 million through our Places of Worship Security Grant in the last two years alone - helping to secure and protect mosques and other places of worship