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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of religious institutions to the promotion of community cohesion.

As set out in Protecting What Matters, the Government’s plan setting out steps to improve social cohesion, faith and belief groups, including religious institutions, play an important role in bringing people together, building trust across difference, and supporting communities to respond to local challenges.

We see this contribution in practice through the involvement of faith and belief groups in numerous different programmes. As a part of the Pride in Place Programme, many faith and belief groups are playing an active role in local decision making to improve their area. Through projects being developed under the Common Ground Resilience Fund, local authorities and community organisations – including faith and belief groups – are being supported to strengthen relationships between different communities and build resilience to local tensions. Through long-standing government funded programmes such as Near Neighbours, faith and belief groups are helping to bring people together in religiously and ethnically diverse communities; and through Inter Faith Week they are helping to celebrate and promote the role of faith communities in building understanding and friendship across difference.

All of these examples underscore why the Government made a number of commitments in Protecting What Matters to work with and celebrate faith and belief communities in order to improve societal understanding of different religions and beliefs, support tolerance, and help build a more cohesive and resilient country.