Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to prevent attacks on Muslims and their places of worship in the light of the recent statistics from the Metropolitan Police Service showing an increase of 70 per cent in such attacks since July 2014.

The Government takes the security of the Muslim and all other communities extremely seriously, and deplores all forms of hate crime. The Government is committed to stamping this out to ensure the safety and security of all our communities. Our new Counter-Extremism Strategy, due to be published later this year, will outline how we will further protect British Muslims, including communities worried about poisonous far right extremists who may be planning crimes such as attacks on mosques.

Ensuring that there is effective security at crowded places and potentially vulnerable sites, such as mosques, remains a priority for the Government. We work with the police to ensure the safety and security of all communities, and considerable advice and guidance has already been provided to mosques, madrassahs, synagogues, and other religious sites; for example, we have drawn upon the expertise of Bradford Council of Mosques and the Community Security Trust to develop security guidance for all mosques in the light of the 2014 incursions by Britain First.

The Department for Communities and Local Government also chairs a cross-Government working group on anti-Muslim hatred, which includes community organisations and representatives, to consider and develop initiatives to seek to combat hate crime.

Police forces continue to be alert to combating and responding to crimes being committed against members of the Muslim community, and to taking appropriate steps to safeguard people and property. Monitoring of the security situation and specific threats to communities remains under regular review, and if there is a need to consider additional measures to ensure the security of the Muslim or any other community, then these will be undertaken as and when it is appropriate to do so.