Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2026 to Question 103696, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications of any proposed definition for the consistent treatment of discrimination or hatred relating to other religions or belief groups.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The independent anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia definition working group submitted their findings for Ministers to consider. As we have made clear, Government will consider this advice in a way that protects our fundamental right to free speech. Any definition would be non-statutory and compatible with relevant legislative frameworks, and Government will confirm next steps in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2026 to Question 103696 on Islamophobia, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that any proposed non statutory definition of (a) anti Muslim hatred and (b) Islamophobia is compatible with existing hate crime legislation.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The independent anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia definition working group submitted their findings for Ministers to consider. As we have made clear, Government will consider this advice in a way that protects our fundamental right to free speech. Any definition would be non-statutory and compatible with relevant legislative frameworks, and Government will confirm next steps in due course.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) identify and (b) detain Islamic extremists.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government takes extremism seriously. We are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers to counter the activities of extremists. This includes challenging extremist narratives by taking a more muscular approach to identifying and watchlisting extremists, and ensuring dangerous overseas hate preachers and extremists are unable to enter the UK to spread their divisive rhetoric.
Islamist extremism continues to be one of the biggest threats we face and is at the heart of our approach to countering extremism and terrorism. We focus on the individuals, groups and environments, online and offline, which foster and enable hatred, and those who reject the fundamental values of our society and whose purpose is to divide and to terrify communities. These extremists must be challenged, and where their activities fall foul of our laws on hate speech, on public order, or on terrorism they will rightly be investigated and prosecuted.
The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world which is deliberately widely drawn to capture the ever-diversifying nature of the terrorist threat that we face. This includes a wide range of terrorist offences and specialised powers for the police and Security Service to investigate and disrupt terrorist activity, support prosecution, and manage terrorist offenders, where activity meets appropriate thresholds. It is a matter for the operationally independent Police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts to decide if a crime has been committed.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the findings of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation will be available to i) the Home Affairs Select Committee and ii) hon. Members before the Crime and Policing Bill returns to the Commons.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects to (a) receive the findings of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation, (b) share those findings with hon. Members and (c) publish those findings.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 10 November 2025, to Question 86656, on Hate Crime: Internet, if he will place a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding in the Library.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with general practice, we do not currently intend to place the Memorandum of Understanding in the library.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to refuse consideration of the written evidence submitted by the Muslim Council of Britain to the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October 2025. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is engaging extensively with representatives of a wide range of sectors, including faith groups and community organisations, to ensure that all perspectives are considered. Given the Review is independent, it is for the Chair leading it to determine which groups and organisations he wishes to engage with.
Once the Review concludes, the Home Secretary will carefully consider its findings and recommendations before setting out her next steps.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential need for further legislative or operational measures to prevent, disrupt, and dismantle extremist networks that pose a threat to public safety.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The police have a range of tools and powers to counter the activities of extremist networks including Counter-Terrorism, hate crime, public order and wider public safety legislation. Where extremists breach criminal thresholds we will take action.Since the start of 2020, MI5 and the police have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots and have intervened in many hundreds of developing threats.
The Prevent programme plays a fundamental role in protecting the public from the threat of terrorism and remains a vital tool for early intervention. Prevent is continuously improving to ensure it has the capabilities it needs to reduce terrorism risk.Since the introduction of the Prevent duty in 2015, just under 6,000 people have been supported to move away from violent ideologies that could have resulted in harm to themselves, or others, or taken them down a pathway to terrorist offending.
The Home Office has also commissioned an independent evaluation of Channel, Prevent’s multi-agency early intervention programme, to assess whether it is effective at reducing individuals’ susceptibility to radicalisation. The evaluation is expected to report findings in 2026.We are progressing activity to challenge extremist narratives including working to ensure dangerous overseas hate preachers and extremists are unable to enter the UK to spread their divisive rhetoric.
Finally, the Desistance and Disengagement Programme, which helps to manage the risk of individuals who have already been involved in terrorism or terrorism related activity, has been independently evaluated. The majority of recommendations from that evaluation have already been implemented.
We constantly review the evolving landscape and we are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers needed to address this issue.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of number of hate crimes reported to the a) Sikh Guard and b) Rakkha that were not passed on the police in the last three years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government remains committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and will not tolerate anti-Sikh hatred in any form. We continue to work with the police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
No assessment has been made of the number of hate crimes reported to the Sikh Guard and the Rakkha that were not passed on to the police, but we recommend that all reporting services direct reports of hate crime to the police where appropriate.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has conducted an equality impact assessment relating to the effect of an Islamophobia definition on religious minorities other than Muslims.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, and this Government is committed to tackling this wherever it manifests. The Government established an independent working group to advise on a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, including on how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim. The Working Group have now submitted their advice to ministers for consideration.
The working group have engaged widely to ensure the advice given to the Government reflects the diverse perspectives and implications for different groups. To strengthen engagement, the Working Group launched a Call for Evidence on 20 July 2025. It was open to the public, and any individual or organisation, including Hindu community groups, were able to submit advice.
The Working Group operated according to its established terms of reference, which stated that any definition must be compatible with free speech and the right to criticise religions and religious practices. The Government will consider their advice in view of this.