Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to statistics from the Community Security Trust that 2019 recorded the highest number of anti-Semitic hate crimes since 2007, what steps his Department is taking to reduce anti-Semitic hate crime.

Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, which is why we have taken a strong lead in tackling it in all its forms. We are providing £14 million this year, and provided over £65 million to date, for the Protective Security Grant to protect Jewish schools and community buildings.

In October 2019 the Communities Secretary wrote to universities and local authorities to urge them to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of Antisemitism and there has been significant uptake of the definition since. We have also appointed Lord Mann as the Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, who has been providing advice on the most effective methods of tackling antisemitism in communities.