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

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.

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.