Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they collect data on the number of (1) mosques, and (2) madrassas, in England and Wales; and if so, how many there are.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We estimate that there are around 1500 mosques and prayer halls in England. We do not hold any data on the number of madrassas.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 5 July (HL16), whether they have criteria by which they monitor and review UK mosques and Islamic centres, including those suspected of promoting extremism, and whether this includes monitoring any funding originating from Qatar.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Mosques and Islamic Centres are subject to the same framework of regulation as other buildings open to the public. In addition, many mosques and Islamic centres, as with other places of worship, will be subject to regulation by the Charity Commission. The Charity Commission is working with the charities sector to introduce a requirement on charities to declare overseas sources of funding.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 3 July (HL47), whether UK citizens are free to criticise religions in private and in public.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Citizens of the United Kingdom are of course, free to criticise religions in private and public. However, it is not acceptable to stir up or promote hatred and violence against people because of their faith. Freedom of speech is one of the values that underpin our society but there are limits – it is not acceptable for people to abuse freedom of speech to incite hatred and division.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce legislation to prevent foreign funding of the building or management of mosques in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has no such plans.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government whether they differentiate between (1) those who criticise a religion, and (2) those who insult its adherents, in their guidance, policies and other literature on hate speech; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
A crime that is motivated by hostility on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity can be classed as a hate crime. Our hate crime laws recognise everyone's right to believe and practice their chosen religion, free from targeted abuse. This same right extends to those who have no religion and those targeted for intra-religious hostility.
The guidance to the application of our laws is covered in the Hate Crime Operational Guidance (attached) issued by the College of Policing in 2014 (http://report-it.org.uk/files/hate_crime_operational_guidance.pdf) which guides the police on the application of our laws.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has issued advice to prosecutors which is available at http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/racist_and_religious_crime
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
Her Majesty's Government whether it is part of their Islamist anti-terrorist strategy to encourage all sermons in mosques to be delivered in English.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
It is not part of our counter-terrorism or counter-extremism strategies to encourage all sermons in Mosques to be delivered in English. This is a matter for Mosques not Government.
Communicating in English helps all places of worship to be open and accessible.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the risk that their policy of further localism might lead to local authorities with high Muslim populations adopting Sharia law, if current trends in birth rate continue.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
This is not viewed as a risk by the Government. Localism does not mean that national law can be contravened, nor does it allow the creation of local court systems. Legislation remains the responsibility of Parliament, not local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Lord Privy Seal on 25 November (HL Deb, col 789), what steps they intend to take to encourage British Muslims to address interpretations of the Qur’an, the Hadith and the Sunnah which deem them to form a justification for violence.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
There is a central verse in the Holy Quran which states there is ‘no compulsion in religion’ a teaching which reflects the thinking and practice of many British Muslims.
The Government has worked closely with British Muslim community organisations, such as the Federation of Muslim Organisations and Leeds Makkah Mosque, to enable the voice of the vast majority of Muslims across the country, who strongly oppose the poisonous rhetoric of violent extremists, to be heard. This is in addition to the regular contact Ministers and officials have with faith communities. We also commend the proactive community-led work such as the #notinmyname campaign and the letter signed by over 100 British Muslims leaders which categorically denounces ISIL's barbaric actions.
Efforts such as these are valuable in challenging extremists and in bringing together the different communities in Britain.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any growing tension between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim communities in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
The UK has a proud track record of inter faith and intra faith cooperation. The Government is working with all communities to ensure that extremist individuals do not provoke tensions