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Written Question
Marriage: Humanism
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of legally recognising humanist marriages.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

In July 2019 we invited the Law Commission to undertake a wholesale review on weddings law in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent.

The Law Commission report was published in July 2022 and contains 57 recommendations for extensive legislative reform. The Government is carefully considering these recommendations, and a response will be published in due course.


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason his Department decided that the Independent Faith Engagement Review call for evidence should be open for 28 days; and whether he sought independent advice on this decision.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of (a) respondents to the call for evidence and (b) people who gave evidence in person to the Independent Faith Engagement Review were from the Sikh community.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Religion
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with which faith organisations the Government has a policy of not engaging.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who gave evidence in person to the Independent Faith Engagement Review; and how many and what proportion of those people also provided written evidence through the call for evidence.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who responded to the call for evidence for the Independent Faith Engagement Review by (a) faith group and (b) organisation.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Independent Faith Engagement Review
Friday 14th July 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what questions were asked to faith communities during interviews for the Independent Faith Engagement Review.

Answered by Dehenna Davison

In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.

In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.

As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.

With this in mind, we can provide the following information:

  1. The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.
  2. The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:

Religion

Respondent Count

Percentage of Respondents

Christian

9874

47.01%

Muslim

4189

19.94%

Hindu

2522

12.01%

Atheist/Humanist

2466

11.74%

Pagan

381

1.81%

Sikh

354

1.69%

Jain

253

1.20%

Ahmadi Muslim

247

1.18%

Jewish

210

1.00%

Buddhist

71

0.34%

Bahá'í

47

0.22%

Quaker

38

0.18%

Spiritual

29

0.14%

Spiritualist

14

0.07%

Zoroastrian

10

0.05%

Taoist

4

0.02%

Dual religious identities

82

0.39%

Multiple religious identities

54

0.26%

Prefer not to say

80

0.38%

N/A

78

0.37%


Written Question
Armed Forces: Pastoral Care
Thursday 16th March 2023

Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the review of the provision of non-religious pastoral support to the Armed Forces; and whether he plans to work with Humanists UK and the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network to accredit humanist and non-religious chaplains to the Armed Forces.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith or belief background. However, should a Service person feel uncomfortable with talking to a Chaplain, they are able to seek appropriate professional support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, and dedicated welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non-Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.

Having carefully considered whether this provision is adequate and suitably reflects the needs of all our people, we have recently conducted a review of this matter and consider the provision of pastoral care merits enhancement so that we can deliver even better support. Accordingly, we are intending to recruit a non-religious pastoral officer for each of the Armed Services, and are currently working with a range of stakeholders from the within the breadth of the AF community to determine how best to take this forward including how we engage with appropriate professional endorsing bodies.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Pastoral Care
Thursday 16th March 2023

Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help ensure non-religious armed forces recruits have access to suitable pastoral support.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith or belief background. However, should a Service person feel uncomfortable with talking to a Chaplain, they are able to seek appropriate professional support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, and dedicated welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non-Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.

Having carefully considered whether this provision is adequate and suitably reflects the needs of all our people, we have recently conducted a review of this matter and consider the provision of pastoral care merits enhancement so that we can deliver even better support. Accordingly, we are intending to recruit a non-religious pastoral officer for each of the Armed Services, and are currently undertaking work to determine the appropriate competency framework and subsequently consider options to deliver an assured capability.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Pastoral Care
Friday 24th February 2023

Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing non-religious pastoral care for non-religious armed forces personnel.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith or belief background. However, should a Service person feel uncomfortable with talking to a Chaplain, they are able to seek appropriate professional support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, and dedicated welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non-Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.

Having carefully considered whether this provision is adequate and suitably reflects the needs of all our people, we have recently conducted a review of this matter and consider the provision of pastoral care merits enhancement so that we can deliver even better support.