Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help keep (a) mosques and (b) muslim faith schools secure.

This Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion at their chosen place of worship, and to making our streets and communities safer. The Government and police work closely together to review threats and strengthen protections for communities against terrorism and hate crime.

The Protective Security for Mosques Scheme provides protective security measures (such as security personnel services, CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing) to mosques and associated Muslim faith community centres. Protective security measures are also available to Muslim faith schools. Up to £29.4 million per year is being made available for this work from 2024/25 to 2027/28.

Work is also underway to develop a new Faith Security Training scheme to raise awareness amongst faith communities of how to improve their safety and security, and to help them prepare to mitigate any threats they may face. We are in the process of competitively tendering for a supplier to deliver this scheme and further details will be shared once the procurement process is complete.