Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the conclusions of the Tell MAMA Annual Report for 2016 on Anti-Muslim Hatred on the gender of victims and the majority identity of perpetrators of such hatred.
Answered by Marcus Jones
We take hate crime in all its forms very seriously: the United Kingdom has some of the strongest hate crime legislation in the world. The statistical breakdowns provided by Tell MAMA give an invaluable insight into the extent and nature of the deplorable abuse which Muslim citizens are subjected to on account of their belief or appearance. It is notable that most reported offline incidents of anti-Muslim hatred involve male perpetrators and that the majority of victims of offline incidents are women, most of whom are visibly Muslim. The Government has committed funding of £100 million to counter violence against women and girls with prosecutions and convictions for such offences rising 63 per cent since 2007-08.
This Government has done more than any other to tackle anti-Muslim hatred. We set up the first ever cross-government working group on anti-Muslim hatred. We have funded Tell MAMA, the first service to record incidents, support victims and raise community awareness of how to report anti-Muslim hate incidents. We are also disaggregating religious hate crime data held by the police to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem. Funding has been made available for the security of mosques and other faith establishments.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Tell MAMA Annual Report for 2016 on Anti-Muslim Hatred; and what steps his Department plans to take to address the increase in the proportion of directly abusive and violent anti-Muslim incidents.
Answered by Marcus Jones
We take hate crime in all its forms very seriously that is why the United Kingdom has some of the strongest hate crime legislation in the world. The increase in hate crime reported to Tell Mama in part reflects a greater encouragement and confidence around reporting as well as an increasing number of data sharing agreements with police forces.
Nevertheless, it is deplorable that any Muslim citizens should be subjected to abuse on account of their belief or appearance.
My Department works with Muslim communities through our anti-Muslim-hatred working group to address the problem of hate crime and to encourage greater reporting.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on his Department's priorities after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Sajid Javid
Our exit from the EU is a time to look ahead with optimism – an opportunity to improve the delivery of investment and local growth across England. I am working with my colleagues across Government to make a resounding success of Brexit.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the amount of manual processing on paper that it carries out and to make such processing digital.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The government continues to encourage more people to go online, so they can access the guidance and services they need – as well as reducing the cost of public services. The department has continued to reduce its paper consumption. This has been achieved through better print facilities and a continuing programme of IT improvements which are helping to decrease our reliance on paper.
The department seeks to digitise wherever possible and actively works with partners across government to adhere to best practice in its media and external communications and forms.
Details of the department’s performance in reducing its paper consumption were published in the Greening Government Commitments Annual Report – April 2015 to March 2016 on 20 April 2017.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to devolve administration of the Local Government Redundancy Modification Order to the Scottish Parliament; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones
My officials are in contact with their counterparts in the Scotland Office regarding this matter.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to update the Local Government Redundancy Modification Order; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones
DCLG administers the Local Government Redundancy Modification Order on behalf of the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales.
The Redundancy Modification Order remains under review. My officials will update relevant organisations in due course.