Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 8 April (HL14593), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, in pursuit of their anti-terrorism policies, (1) what assessment they have made of any Islamist teaching in (a) mosques, and (b) madrassas, in the UK, (2) what assessment they have made of the number of Imams in the UK who cannot speak English, and (3) what plans they have to require services in mosques in the UK to be conducted in English.

We look at and assess all evidence of those that radicalise others though their support for or justification of violence and will not tolerate those who spread divisive and harmful narratives.

HMG has made no assessment of the number of Imams present in the UK as part of the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy CONTEST, nor of their language skills.

HMG has no plans to mandate English language in any religious service as part of the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy CONTEST. Everyone has a right to freedom of religion under Article 9 of the Human Rights Act and is one of the fundamental rights that we will always protect in this country.

As outlined in our previous response, the Immigration Rules governing T2 Minister of Religion roles require applicants to demonstrate a strong command of the English language in order to qualify for a visa.

Whether through Islamism or any other ideology, the Government is committed to tackling those who spread views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society, and that radicalise others into terrorism. We remain of the view that the propaganda used by Islamist extremists is a distortion of true Islam.