Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing the funding for the protection for mosques in line with that provided for the protection of synagogues via the grant administered by the Community Security Trust.

The Jewish Community Protective Security Grant was introduced in 2015 following a series of terrorist attacks against Jews and Jewish locations across Europe and the West, including Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels and Marseilles.

International terrorist propaganda, particularly by Daesh has repeatedly highlighted Jews as targets for terrorist attacks. The grant mainly funds security guarding at Jewish schools, nurseries and some synagogues

The Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme is specifically for the provision of protective security measures such as access control, fencing and lighting for places of worship that are vulnerable to hate crime attacks.

The Home Secretary announced a boost in funding for the hate crime Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme to £1.6 million for 2019/20. This is double the amount awarded in 2018/19. In addition, £5 million over three years has been committed to providing security training to places of worship in England and Wales.

This funding marks a significant change in our funding for protective security for places of worship. We also committed to consult with communities on what more can and should be done to protect faith communities. If the threat changes or there is a sense that more money is needed, we will always look at how we should respond.