Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) her international counterparts to help protect religious communities from hate crime during times of violence in the Middle East.

All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and we have a robust legislative framework to respond to it. We are clear that the cowards who commit these hateful attacks should feel the full force of the law.

This Government is committed to tackling hate crime and to protect religious communities. We have provided security measures for places of worship across to help protect them and the communities that use them from harm, including at times of increased tension. Through the Places of Worship scheme and the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, we have delivered funding to help protect faith communities from targeted hate crime, including through a range of security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarm systems, and fencing.

The police regularly review events and potential threats to ensure everything is being done to protect all our communities from terrorism, hate crime and the impact of public protest.