Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has undertaken to tackle islamophobia in (a) Wakefield constituency, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England.

Muslims in our country should be able to practice their faith in freedom. We have some of the strongest legislation in the world to tackle hate crime and, where groups incite racial hatred or are engaged in racially or religiously motivated criminal activity, we would expect them to be prosecuted. We have supported Tell MAMA?(Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks)?with?just over £2.8 million between 2016 and 2020 to monitor and combat anti-Muslim hatred. To remain live to the issues facing Muslim communities, we continue to support the work of the cross-Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group which provides valuable advice to Government on challenges faced by Britain’s Muslim communities and how to address those challenges. We have also established the Faith, Race and Hate Crime Grant Scheme will support established community groups and civil society organisations to run short projects that champion the government's commitment to building a diverse and tolerant society for all faiths and races. Up to £2 million is available for projects to boost shared values and tackle religiously and racially- motivated hate crime.