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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 277247 on Hate Crime: Sikhs, what funding the Government has allocated to help increase the reporting of hate crimes by the Sikh community in each of the last five years.

I refer the Honourable Member to the previous answer I gave to the question UIN 282566 on 3 September 2019:

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 277247, my Department has allocated £250,000 in total over 2016/17 and 2018/19 to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). £150,000 of this was to support work encouraging reporting from groups who are less likely to report hate crime. These groups included EU citizens, Hindus, Christians, and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, as well as Sikhs

In February, my Department organised a hate crime workshop for representatives from the Sikh community with contributions from across government, the police and criminal justice system. Outcomes included further engagement between the Sikh community and organisations including the NPCC, Crown Prosecution Service, Metropolitan Police and Department for Education

My Department and the NPCC continue to work with the Sikh community and other groups who are less likely to report to raise awareness of hate crime and encourage reporting. This work forms part of our commitment to tackling faith and race based hate crime made in the refreshed Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan.