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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to help increase the reporting of hate crimes by the Muslim community in each of the last five years.

We have 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 encouraging reporting from groups who are less likely to report hate crime. These groups included EU citizens and faith groups. Home Office data from 2017/18 shows that 52 per cent of religiously motivated hate crime was perpetrated against Muslims. In addition to the NPCC funding, the government is providing over £2.5 million to Tell MAMA, a hate crime reporting and victim support organisation. Whilst Tell MAMA predominantly supports Muslims or those targeted for being perceived to be Muslim, for example Sikhs, all communities are able to report hate crimes to Tell MAMA. To supply the information outside of these funding streams for the previous five years would involve a disproportionate cost to my Department.