Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on community cohesion in England and Wales of foreign-backed Islamophobic online disinformation campaigns.

Anti-Muslim hatred is abhorrent and has no place in our society, no one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their religion or belief. The Government has established an independent working group to advise government on a definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, and how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims or anyone who is perceived to be Muslim. The British Muslim Trust will also receive funding to provide a comprehensive service to monitor anti-Muslim hatred and support victims.

Furthermore, we are committed to bridging divisions between communities and challenging hatred and that is why we have launched the Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, providing £5bn over 10 years to support up to 250 places which will help build strong, resilient and integrated communities. We know that malign actors deliberately seek to amplify hateful and divisive narratives online to influence audiences, including in the UK. For this reason, The Foreign Interference Offence has been added as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act, meaning all in-scope companies must take systemic action against illegal state-sponsored disinformation and interference online.