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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to formulate official definitions of hatred or abuse of adherents of Sikhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other religions besides Islam.

All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable and have no place in our communities.

In the most recently published Home Office statistics the number of religious hate crimes targeting Muslims accounted for 38% of all religious hate crimes. The number of religious hate crimes targeting Jews accounted for 33%. These together make up 71%, and show government action here is urgently needed and whilst the government has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition for antisemitism, it does not have an equivalent definition to aid its work in tackling hate directed towards Muslims.

The Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group’s objective is to develop a working definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia which is reflective of a wide range of perspectives and priorities for British Muslims. The Chair will agree a work and engagement plan with the Minister for Faith and Communities and will use this as the basis for the work of the Group.

The Group’s proposed definition will be non-statutory and will provide the government and other relevant bodies, including the police, with an understanding of unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities.

Full terms of reference for the Working Group have been published on GOV.UK.