Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding the national working group on child abuse linked to faith has received from her Department in each year since 2011.

My hon. Friend, the former Minister for Children and Families, Vicky Ford, met with senior representatives of the national working group on child abuse linked to faith in February 2021. The department has not provided any funding to the national working group.

​Faith-based abuse, or 'child abuse linked to faith or belief' relates to situations in which a child is abused (physically, emotionally, sexually or by neglect) because of a belief that the child is possessed by evil spirits. Any form of child abuse is abhorrent and cannot be justified. The government is determined to protect children from this abuse, as with any other form of abuse. Where there are concerns that any child is at risk of, or has suffered significant harm, these should be reported to the police or to the local authority children’s social care who should take action. This is outlined in the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance.

The government’s ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, published on 2 February 2023, and backed by £200 million investment, set out plans to reform children’s social care, including a commitment to deliver a decisive, multi-agency child protection system for all children.