Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of advice his Department provides on safety protocols to maintain public safety and security at places of worship.

The police routinely monitor the threats faced by all communities and ensure that there are appropriate protective security measures in place to keep people safe.

In addition, as places of worship are recognised as crowded places there is a range of protective security advice and guidance, which is regularly reviewed and revised, from the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), a unit within Counter Terrorism Policing. This is developed and assured through engagement with policing experts, academia and the Centre for the Protection National Infrastructure (CPNI). It is internationally recognised and many organisations in the UK and overseas reference or replicate the advice for the protection of their crowded places.

There is a range of awareness raising and communications activities undertaken by Counter Terrorism Policing, such as ‘Run, Hide, Tell’ which has been created to outline the key steps for keeping safe in the event of a firearms or weapons attack.

We have also recently announced an increase in funding for the Places of Worship Protective Security Fund to £1.6 million for 2019-20. This is double the amount awarded last year. In addition, we have committed £5 million over three years for the provision of security training to places of worship. We will be consulting with communities and faith groups to develop and deliver this new scheme as well as review what more should be done.