Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of recent reports of the (a) detention and (b) deportation of members of the Baha'i community in Qatar; what representations he has made to his Qatari counterpart on the protection of religious minorities in that country; and what steps he is taking to support international efforts to (i) promote religious freedom and (ii) protect minority communities in the region.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a strong advocate for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. As part of the UN Universal Periodic Review in November 2024, the UK called on Qatar to adopt legislation to ensure non-discrimination on the grounds of disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or belief.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what individual diversity networks, and trade union diversity networks, are recognised by the Ministry of Defence and each of the Armed Forces.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises a comprehensive range of diversity networks which are listed below.
In addition, the MOD recognises five main Trade Unions, (Prospect, PCS, FDA, GMB and Unite). The MOD’s Trade Unions have Diversity and Inclusion networks aimed at supporting their members however the MOD does not recognise nor engage directly with those networks.
Race Networks
Disability and Carers Networks
Gender Networks
LGBT Networks
Families Networks
Faith and Belief Networks
Social Mobility Networks
Wellbeing and Support
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding the Government has allocated to help increase levels of reporting of hate crimes by the Sikh community in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
Over the last 5 years, the government has provided funding to True Vision – the police hate crime programme and online reporting portal – to encourage communities to report hate crime and reinforce relationships between communities and policing. As a part of this, True Vision has been working with the Sikh Guard (established by the National Sikh Police Association) and Rakkha initiatives to encourage reporting from within Sikh communities.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to make a submission to the Women and Equalities Committee's inquiry on gendered Islamophobia.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We welcome the Committee's inquiry on this topic and ministers will take a keen interest in its findings.
The Government recognises that religious hatred is not specific to one place and can manifest in varying areas, such as online spaces and in public and educational settings. Certain characteristics, for example gender, sexuality and race, can often compound individual’s experiences of religious hatred.
British Muslim women are pivotal to our wider communities. They are often the driving force behind interfaith and community initiatives, yet they face specific challenges, with discrimination and intolerance often directed at them.
The Government has established a new working group to provide government with a definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia. This work will consider views from a cross-section of society, including those of Muslim women, to improve understanding of unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities, supporting wider and ongoing government-led efforts to tackle religiously motivated hate crime and foster cohesion.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answers of 1 March 2024 to Questions 15743 and 15744, how many staff in (a) her Department, (b) Arts Council England and (c) the National Lottery Community Fund have job titles which include the words (i) equality, (ii) diversity, (iii) inclusion, (iv) gender, (v) LGBT and (vi) race.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The requested figures are
DCMS | 2 |
Arts Council England | 11 |
National Lottery Community Fund | 4 |
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they have created the new Combatting Hatred Against Muslims Fund and not one that commits to combating hatred against people of all faiths.
Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and this government is committed to tackling this wherever it manifests. Our efforts to build a country of tolerance and inclusion apply to people of all faiths and none.
The recent hate crime statistics showed almost 2 in 5 religious hate crimes were targeted against Muslims, which is why the Government announced this funding to provide a comprehensive service to monitor anti-Muslim hate and support victims. With cases on the rise, up-to-date and detailed information on incidents and drivers of this form of hatred will play a fundamental part in supporting the government to combat anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia and ensure Muslim communities feel safe and supported.
No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
The Government has worked with the police to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report.
We are committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and we will not tolerate religious hatred in any form.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting times were for patients requiring an organ transplant in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) religion and (b) ethnic group.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on waiting times is not held by year for religious or ethnic groups. Waiting times also vary between organ types.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation and managing the organ transplant waiting list across the United Kingdom. Information available on annual activity and the current waiting list is captured in the NHSBT Annual Activity Report, which is available at the following link:
https://www.odt.nhs.uk/statistics-and-reports/annual-activity-report/
Improving National Health Service Organ Donor Register registration rates overall and particularly for ethnic minority groups is a priority for the Government and NHSBT, to save and improve more lives.
NHSBT conducts marketing and communication activity throughout the year to increase organ donation particularly for underrepresented groups which includes but is not limited to: publication of the Annual Report of Ethnic Differences in Transplantation with supporting media coverage including on the BBC Asian Network; raising awareness during South Asian Heritage Month with charities and organisations; continued activity during Organ Donation Week 2024 with partners including Dalgety Tea and an exclusive screening of the living donation film ‘The Final Gift’ at Brixton’s Ritzy cinema.
NHSBT is committed to reducing health inequalities in treatment and health outcomes that see some people wait longer for life saving treatments, or in some cases miss out on them all together. Some of the priority areas to tackle health inequalities include reducing the waiting time for minority groups waiting for organs and increasing access to automated exchange transfusion by people with sickle cell disorder.
NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme is part of NHSBT’s work to build support for organ donation amongst Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic communities, working through faith groups to increase understanding and drive behavioural change on organ donation. In the latest funding round, we awarded 51 organisations funding to begin their work in September 2024. This included £150,000 to support deceased organ donation and £150,000 to support living kidney donation.
Projects range from local community charities, experienced blood/organ charities to universities and places of worship. For example, the South Asian Heritage Trust aims to raise awareness about organ donation and tackling health inequalities by empowering South Asian communities to make informed choices and increase the number of registered organ donors. NHSBT also works closely with patient groups and charities including the Sickle Cell Society, the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (NBTA), the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, the NHS Race Health Observatory and many more.
NHSBT works closely with the NBTA to deliver culturally and religiously sensitive messaging about low donation rates amongst their communities.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates among (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) manages transplant services across the United Kingdom. NHSBT works with an extensive network of organisations and individuals who have established and trusted relationships with their communities. Last year, in collaboration with the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (NBTA), NHSBT delivered a conference with the aim of developing culturally and religiously sensitive messaging to promote organ donation within these communities by engaging faith leaders and organisations. Representatives from 51 organisations attended, including British Sikh Nurses. This promotes the sharing of messaging guidance with many faiths, including Sikhism. The report will be shared with all community grant groups and organisations working to increase engagement with faith groups. NHSBT and the NBTA, along with the Race Equality Commission, will continue to work together, and have established a Messaging Conference Implementation Group which will take forward the actions arising from the conference. NHSBT also creates and shares a host of faith-based assets on its website, including for Judaism, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/your-faith-and-beliefs/judaism/
The Jewish Organ Donor Association is a recipient of the Community Grant Programme, which is a two-year programme focused on building long-term relationships through trusted peers and leaders in the community, engaging with black African and Caribbean, South Asian, East and South East Asian, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Muslim, and Christian communities. It aims to raise awareness, tackle misinformation, and change perceptions and behaviours around organ donation. A total of £600,000 was given to 51 recipients in 2024.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates among ethnic minority groups.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Organ Donor Register is operated by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). Improving NHS Organ Donor Register registration rates overall and particularly for ethnic minority groups is a priority for the Government and NHSBT, to save and improve more lives. NHSBT runs marketing and communication activity throughout the year to increase organ donation, particularly for underrepresented groups, which includes but is not limited to:
- publication of the Annual Report of Ethnic Differences in Transplantation, with supporting media coverage, including on the BBC Asian Network;
- raising awareness during South Asian Heritage Month with charities and organisations; and
- Organ Donation Week 2024, which saw continued activity with partners, including Dalgety Tea, and an exclusive screening of the living donation film The Final Gift at Brixton’s Ritzy cinema
NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme is part of NHSBT’s works to build support for organ donation amongst black, Asian, mixed heritage, and minority ethnic communities, working through faith groups to increase understanding and drive behavioural change on organ donation.
NHSBT works closely with the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance to deliver culturally and religiously sensitive messaging about low donation rates amongst their communities. In addition, a range of online and printed materials in relation to faith are available on the dedicated faith and beliefs section of the NHSBT website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/your-faith-and-beliefs/
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with (a) NHS England and (b) healthcare professionals to ensure that patients from ethnic minority backgrounds are able to discuss any concerns they may have on the potential impact of (i) cultural and (ii) racial bias; and what steps he is taking to improve the experiences of patients who raise those concerns.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that racial health inequalities are linked to broader socioeconomic factors. Tackling these inequalities is central to building a fairer health system where outcomes are not dictated by race or background.
Community-led approaches, including peer support and culturally sensitive social prescribing, are integral to preventing poor health outcomes and improving self-management. These will be key features of the upcoming 10-Year Health Plan.
The NHS Framework for Action on Inclusion Health is advancing improvements in culturally competent and trauma-informed care, ensuring services are responsive to the needs of ethnic minority groups and other marginalised populations.
As raised in last year’s health inequalities public board report, the National Health Service has also established the NHS Race and Health Observatory to better understand and address the stark health inequalities experienced by black and minority ethnic communities. Further information on last year’s health inequalities public board report and the NHS Race and Health Observatory is available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.nhsrho.org/about-us/