Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Keen of Elie on 3 March (HL Deb, cols 507–9), what estimate they have made of the percentage of Muslim managing chaplains in prisons in England and Wales (1) currently, and (2) 10 years ago; and what percentage of current prisoners are Muslim.
As of 6 March 2020, 29% of Managing Chaplains in prisons in England and Wales were Muslim. No information is held centrally of the faith adherence ten years ago of managing chaplains (or their then equivalent). As of 31 December 2019, 16% of prisoners in England Wales declared that they were Muslim.
Data on prisoner religion up to December 2019 is shown below. These figures are regularly published on gov.uk under table 1.5 of the prison statistics information.
Table 1.5: Prison population by religion and sex | ||||||
| ||||||
| 31-Dec-18 | 31-Mar-19 | 30-Jun-19 | 30-Sep-19 | 31-Dec-19 | Percentage change December |
Males and Females | 82,236 | 82,634 | 82,710 | 83,810 | 82,868 | 1% |
All Christian | 39,293 | 39,515 | 39,257 | 39,731 | 39,176 | 0% |
Anglican | 13,496 | 13,480 | 13,273 | 13,389 | 13,225 | -2% |
Free Church | 758 | 737 | 739 | 770 | 753 | -1% |
Roman Catholic | 14,094 | 14,160 | 14,194 | 14,350 | 14,183 | 1% |
Other Christian | 10,945 | 11,138 | 11,051 | 11,222 | 11,015 | 1% |
Muslim | 12,894 | 13,008 | 13,341 | 13,474 | 13,424 | 4% |
Hindu | 361 | 343 | 341 | 354 | 342 | -5% |
Sikh | 638 | 611 | 601 | 588 | 571 | -11% |
Buddhist | 1,575 | 1,619 | 1,603 | 1,627 | 1,661 | 5% |
Jewish | 482 | 477 | 494 | 502 | 495 | 3% |
Other religious group | 1,838 | 1,876 | 1,910 | 1,955 | 1,965 | 7% |
Non recognised | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | ** |
No religion | 25,053 | 25,034 | 25,023 | 25,455 | 25,099 | 0% |
Not recorded | 96 | 144 | 134 | 119 | 128 | 33% |
Males | 78,476 | 78,802 | 78,940 | 79,943 | 79,165 | 1% |
All Christian | 37,119 | 37,336 | 37,167 | 37,607 | 37,102 | 0% |
Anglican | 12,827 | 12,789 | 12,632 | 12,763 | 12,604 | -2% |
Free Church | 703 | 685 | 693 | 716 | 707 | 1% |
Roman Catholic | 13,377 | 13,438 | 13,473 | 13,606 | 13,470 | 1% |
Other Christian | 10,212 | 10,424 | 10,369 | 10,522 | 10,321 | 1% |
Muslim | 12,659 | 12,782 | 13,098 | 13,222 | 13,183 | 4% |
Hindu | 350 | 329 | 327 | 337 | 326 | -7% |
Sikh | 618 | 589 | 581 | 571 | 555 | -10% |
Buddhist | 1,500 | 1,534 | 1,524 | 1,548 | 1,586 | 6% |
Jewish | 476 | 469 | 484 | 495 | 487 | 2% |
Other religious group | 1,735 | 1,774 | 1,806 | 1,850 | 1,855 | 7% |
Non recognised | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ** |
No religion | 23,919 | 23,846 | 23,827 | 24,204 | 23,944 | 0% |
Not recorded | 94 | 136 | 120 | 104 | 121 | 29% |
Females | 3,760 | 3,832 | 3,770 | 3,867 | 3,703 | -2% |
All Christian | 2,174 | 2,179 | 2,090 | 2,124 | 2,074 | -5% |
Anglican | 669 | 691 | 641 | 626 | 621 | -7% |
Free Church | 55 | 52 | 46 | 54 | 46 | ** |
Roman Catholic | 717 | 722 | 721 | 744 | 713 | -1% |
Other Christian | 733 | 714 | 682 | 700 | 694 | -5% |
Muslim | 235 | 226 | 243 | 252 | 241 | 3% |
Hindu | 11 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 16 | ** |
Sikh | 20 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 16 | ** |
Buddhist | 75 | 85 | 79 | 79 | 75 | 0% |
Jewish | 6 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8 | ** |
Other religious group | 103 | 102 | 104 | 105 | 110 | 7% |
Non recognised | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ** |
No religion | 1,134 | 1,188 | 1,196 | 1,251 | 1,155 | 2% |
Not recorded | 2 | 8 | 14 | 15 | 7 | ** |
The role of Managing Chaplain is predominantly managerial rather than faith based and posts are filled through fair and open competition in line with Civil Service guidelines.