Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2018 to Question 188021 on Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme, which (a) mosques, (b) gurdwaras, (c) churches, (d) temples and (e) faith-based roundtables officials of his Department attended.

Over the three years of the Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme, more than ten Home Office officials have visited religious buildings across the 3 years’ it has been running, alongside visits by Community Coordina-tors funded by the Department, and faith representatives. Officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), have been involved with meetings of the Sikh Roundtable and the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, where the POW scheme has been promoted or discussed.

The names of the places of religious worship visited by officials in relation to the Places of Worship scheme are exempt from release under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, on the grounds of the en-dangerment of the safety of individuals. However, officials have discussed the scheme at meetings of the Sikh Roundtable, the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, and Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime. The Min-ister for Faith, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, was present to discuss the scheme at the Sikh Roundtable in July 2018.