Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Rapid Analytical Sprint reports leaked on 28 January, whether they plan to retain the previous Government’s policy on community engagement or disapply it.

I refer the Noble Lord to the response I gave to his question to this House on the 10 February of this year when asked which department will have responsibility for cross-Government engagement principles.

As I stated at the time, the Home Office works on countering extremism, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) continues to lead work on strengthening community cohesion with local councils. It is vital that the two programmes on cohesion and extremism work in parallel.

The findings from the sprint have not yet been agreed by Ministers and we are considering a wide range of potential next steps arising from that work. MHCLG continues to work in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address the deep-seated issues.