Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help provide reassurances to Sikhs on their (a) safety and (b) security in the context of recent steps taken by the Indian Government.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. 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 it.
More broadly, we continue to look at tackling all forms of religious hatred. The department is currently seeking the views and perspectives of domestic and international experts in this field to explore how religious hatred is experienced by British communities today. This work will include anti-Sikh hatred
In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing up to £50.9 million to protect faith communities. This includes £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the new Protective Security for Mosques scheme and a scheme for Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million for the places of worship of other (non-Muslim and non-Jewish) faiths.
The Places of Worship Protective Security Funding (PoW) Scheme provides physical protective security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing to places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other (non-Muslim and non-Jewish) faiths that are particularly vulnerable to religiously or racially motivated hate crime in England and Wales.
Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the polling by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, published on 27 November 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the finding that 16% of British Jews think that the police treat anti-Semitic hate crime like other forms of hate crime.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity.
Whilst the police are operationally independent and work in line with the College of Policing’s operational guidance to respond to hate crime, we expect the police to fully investigate these abhorrent offences and work with the CPS to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need, including having recruited 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023.
The Government regularly engages with Jewish community stakeholders to ensure that we are doing everything we can to tackle antisemitism in the UK and protect the safety and security of the Jewish community. The Government’s Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant provides protective security measures at Jewish community sites including education facilities and many synagogues. In response to increased incidents of antisemitism in the UK as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, the Prime Minister announced additional funding of £3 million to provide additional security at Jewish schools, synagogues and other Jewish community sites. This brings total protective security funding for the Jewish Community to £18 million in 2023/24. This level will be maintained at £18 million for 2024/25.
The Government is also providing £7 million over the next three years to ensure that more support is in place for schools and universities to understand, recognise and tackle antisemitism.
Since 7 October, forces across the country have increased neighbourhood patrols to provide reassurance to local communities. Police have also conducted thousands of visits to Jewish sites, including synagogues and faith schools. Forces have made a number of arrests linked to antisemitic and other forms of hate crime in the UK – including the Metropolitan Police Service which has made 134 arrests linked to hate crimes as of 1 December. The MPS also have a specific Hanukkah policing plan to provide assurance to the Jewish community.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether police forces are taking steps to increase Sikh community (a) engagement with and (b) trust in police handling of security concerns raised by such communities.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. 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 it. In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing £3.5 million for protecting places of worship, including for gurdwaras.
More broadly, we continue to look across Government at how best we can tackle all forms of religious hatred.
Questions relating to policing are a matter for the Home Department.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of hate crime against the Sikh community in the last 10 years; and what steps he is taking to tackle such crime.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. 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 it. In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing £3.5 million for protecting places of worship, including for gurdwaras.
More broadly, we continue to look across Government at how best we can tackle all forms of religious hatred.
Questions relating to policing are a matter for the Home Department.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to support Sikh communities in tackling (a) threats and (b) other hate crimes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. 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 it. In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing £3.5 million for protecting places of worship, including for gurdwaras.
More broadly, we continue to look across Government at how best we can tackle all forms of religious hatred.
Questions relating to policing are a matter for the Home Department.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's policies in preventing (a) hate crime and (b) other discrimination against members of (i) the Sikh community and (ii) other minority communities.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Hatred towards Sikhs is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. 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 it. In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing £3.5 million for protecting places of worship, including for gurdwaras.
More broadly, we continue to look across Government at how best we can tackle all forms of religious hatred.
Questions relating to policing are a matter for the Home Department.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given that the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act was published five years ago and that the most recent Conservative manifesto included a promise to legislate in this Parliament, why a bill on Mental Health Act reform was not mentioned in the King's Speech.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that the absence of a Mental Health Bill in the King’s Speech is disappointing to many people. It remains our intention to bring forward a Mental Health Bill when Parliamentary time allows.
We continue to take forward non-legislative commitments to improve the care and treatment of people detained under the Act, including continuing to pilot models of Culturally Appropriate Advocacy, which will provide tailored support to hundreds of people from ethnic minorities to better understand their rights when they are detained under the Mental Health Act. NHS England has launched the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework for all mental health trusts in the National Health Service to embed across England. We are also investing over £400 million of funding between 2020/21 and 2023/24 to eradicate dormitories and give patients the privacy of their own ensuite bedroom.
NHS England is taking forward a new Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme to support cultural change and a new bold, reimagined model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient settings. This programme will complement and further support our existing commitments to improve the quality of community care and reduce the need for inpatient care.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 to reduce racial disparities in (a) mental health services and (b) experiences of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is aware that there are racial disparities in mental health services and in people’s experiences of the Mental Health Act 1983. Black people are over four times more likely to be detained than white people and eleven times more likely to put on a Community Treatment Order.
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, National Health Service organisations have a responsibility to eliminate discrimination and to advance equality, including in relation to race. The Department expects all NHS organisations - including those delivering mental health services - to comply with the Duty, and to go further where appropriate.
The Advancing Mental Health Equalities (AMHE) strategy published by NHS England in 2020 helps set expectations for providers and commissioners to identify opportunities and drive forwards improvements to address inequalities in access to and experience of mental health services. As part of this, NHS England is also rolling out the Patient and Carer Race Equalities Framework, an organisational competency framework for all NHS mental health trusts which will help tackle inequalities in access, experience and outcomes for people from ethnic minority groups.
Following on from the Independent Review of the MHA (published in 2018), Government published a draft Mental Health Bill in June 2022 and has signalled its intention to legislate when Parliamentary time allows. The draft Bill contains provisions to give individuals much more of a say in their care and treatment, will increase the support available from independent advocates, and allow people subject to the Act to choose the person they want to represent their interests.
We are also taking forward non-legislative work to address disparities, and have piloted new forms of more tailored, culturally appropriate advocacy.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 2 May (HL7140), which states that the Home Secretary’s comments reported in the Daily Mail on 1 April about sexual abuse of females by perpetrators described as “almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values”, related only to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, whether they will ask the Daily Mail to publish this clarification.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear that child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion. The Home Secretary’s comments relate to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, which showed that perpetrators in those cases were overwhelmingly British-Pakistani men, and the victims were white girls. However, of course child sexual abuse offenders come from every walk of life, every ethnicity, and every background – as do their victims.
The Home Secretary has made her comments clear, including through the Written Answer mentioned and through her publication in The Spectator on 22 April 2023.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis the Home Secretary has associated the phenomenon of grooming gangs with ethnicity rather than with religion.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know that child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion. The vast majority of British-Pakistanis are law-abiding, upstanding citizens and the Home Secretary's comments relate to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, which described the perpetrators in those cases as overwhelmingly British-Pakistani men.
The 2020 Home Office report on Group based Child Sexual Exploitation set out the best evidence on ethnicity, age, offender networks, the context in which these crimes are committed and implications for national and local policy. As noted within the report, beyond those specific high-profile cases, the academic literature highlights significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and group-based child sexual exploitation.
It is essential for police and local authorities to have a good understanding of offender characteristics and the drivers of child sexual exploitation in their areas, so that they can uncover and tackle offending effectively. That is why the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have announced a number of steps to improve our data on, and our response to, group-based child sexual exploitation, including a new Taskforce, regional analysts in every police region, a new Complex and Organised Child Abuse Database hosted by the Taskforce and the roll out of the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme, which brings together force-level, regional, and national data and intelligence.