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Written Question
Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the correspondence of 17 April 2023 from the APPG for Safeguarding in Faith Communities on the Government’s response to the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

I recognise the important work of the APPG for Safeguarding in Faith Communities and I responded to your 17 April letter on 12 May.

The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse, and the Inquiry’s final report marks an important milestone in that regard. We have been working across government to carefully consider the Inquiry’s final recommendations. I appreciate all of the victims and survivors who came forward to bravely share their testimonies with the Inquiry and all of the important contributions of stakeholders right across the country over the past seven years.

And as the Home Secretary confirmed in a Written Ministerial Statement to the House on 20 April, we will be publishing the Government response to the Inquiry’s final report in May 2023.


Written Question
Homes for Ukraine Scheme
Monday 28th March 2022

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will commit to hosting a briefing session available to all (a) charities, (b) faith organisations and (c) other organisations on matching UK host families with Ukrainian refugees.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

Further to the oral statement by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on 14 March, guidance for local authorities has been published on Gov.uk at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils . There are also published FAQs available online at www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions as well as information for sponsors at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-sponsor-guidance . Information is available on safeguarding checks at these links, as well as on eligibility for the scheme. Phase One of the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened for applications on 18 March and is accessible via links from homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk . Those who had recorded their interest in the scheme were also contacted on that date. Details on future phases of the scheme will be announced in due course.


Written Question
Protection
Friday 25th February 2022

Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve safeguarding within faith communities.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government is committed to doing all that we can to ensure children and vulnerable groups are effectively safeguarded. As such, Home Office collaborates closely with other government departments - including Department for Education (DfE), Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) - to provide leadership and promote effective practice around safeguarding, including across faith communities.

The statutory safeguarding regime applies broadly, underpinned by Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018), the statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Referrals should be made by any organisation where there are concerns about a child or young person being at risk of abuse or harm.

DfE has also published a safeguarding code of practice for out-of-school settings, including religious supplementary schools, which brings together existing legal requirements and best practice into a single location.

In addition, DLUHC currently fund the organisation Strengthening Faith Institutions who help to create stronger, healthier, integrated and accessible places of worship across England, by delivering safeguarding training in faith institutions. SFI aim to build the capacity of grassroots organisations by delivering crucial expertise alongside local initiatives. They provide health checks for places of worship, alongside training courses to empower women, faith leaders, community leaders and young leaders from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Finally, the Government welcomes the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s report into child protection into religious organisations and settings, published in September 2021, and is carefully considering its findings and recommendations.


Written Question
Refugees: Afghanistan
Wednesday 22nd September 2021

Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Safeguarding and Afghan Resettlement of 13 September 2021, Official Report, Column 700, what support his Department plans to provide to help Afghan nationals preserve their (a) language and (b) culture when they are resettled in the UK.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Under Operation Warm Welcome, we are taking a cross-government approach to ensuring Afghans arriving in the UK are able to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate with their local communities.

They will also receive comprehensive integration support as they start their new lives in the UK. A package of support to acclimatise to the UK, learn English, and find work, will enable rapid self-sufficiency and social integration in UK communities.

As part of this, we are creating a portal where people, organisations and businesses can register offers of support. This could include volunteering, offers of employment or to provide professional skills pro bono, including helping those arriving deal with trauma, or offering donations of mobile phones, mobile credit or data, laptops, access to training, clothes and toys. This will complement the Afghanistan housing portal which has been set up to collect offers of additional housing support.

We will also be extending the Community Sponsorship Scheme (CSS) so that friends and neighbours, charities and faith groups can come together to support a family through the ACRS. We will make it easier and quicker for community groups to become sponsors so that more people can play a direct role in the warm welcome we will extend to these new members of our communities.


Written Question
Religious Freedom
Monday 19th February 2018

Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to advance freedom of religion and belief in (1) Saudi Arabia, (2) Pakistan, (3) Myanmar, and (4) the Central African Republic.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief and our views are well known.

Saudi Arabia:
We regularly raise our concerns with the Government of Saudi Arabia using a range of Ministerial and diplomatic channels of communication, including the British Embassy and through the European Union in Riyadh. We will continue to look for opportunities to work with Saudi Arabia in encouraging greater freedom of religion or belief. We received positive messages from the Saudi authorities on the tolerance of religious minorities and freedom of religion or belief.

Pakistan:
During his visit to Pakistan in November 2017, the Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised the treatment of religious minorities, including discrimination and violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslim and Christian communities, with Pakistan's Ministry of Human Rights. The Foreign Secretary raised religious tolerance and the importance of safeguarding the rights of all Pakistan's citizens during his visit to Pakistan in November 2016. The UK has supported projects in Pakistan to promote greater tolerance and religious freedom. Pakistan remains a priority for UK development assistance, with programmes designed to improve human rights that include promoting tolerance of religious minorities.

Burma:
I raised concerns about the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Burma at the Human Rights Council in September 2017. The treatment of the Rogingya is of particular concern, the Foreign Secretary raised this with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma on 11 February. British Embassy Rangoon has been supporting local projects addressing the drivers of prejudice and inter-communal violence. In 2017 we delivered a two-day inter-faith dialogue and a workshop for civil servants, parliamentarians and non-government organisations.

Central African Republic:
We are working with the international community, including through the UN peacekeeping Mission (MINSUCA), to support the Central African Republic government's efforts to end the violence and bring about reconciliation and stability. In January, with our UN Security Council partners, the UK also agreed a mandate to sanction individuals who incite violence on an ethnic or religious basis (UN Resolution 2399). Since 2013, the UK has provided £63 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the violence.


Written Question
Female Genital Mutilation Unit
Thursday 8th December 2016

Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the female genital mutilation (FGM) unit will be given the remit, powers and budget to become the sole source for safeguarding girls at risk and eradicating FGM.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

The Government has taken a range of measures to support professionals, increase our understanding of FGM and co-ordinate activity across Government.

This includes:

• a mandatory reporting duty requiring regulated health and social care professionals and teachers to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police came into force on 31 October 2015.

• publishing new multi-agency guidance on 1 April for all frontline professionals, including the police, which is statutory, for the first time.

• over 70,000 professionals have completed our free FGM e-learning, which we have updated to include information on the recent changes to the law.

• the Department of Health’s £4 million FGM Prevention Programme which is improving the NHS response • Department for Education have funded the Barnardo’s and Local Government Association’s National FGM Centre which is working to strengthen the social care response.

The Government also recognises the importance of gathering and disseminating information on the prevalence of, and attitudes to, FGM. In addition, we are part-funding a 2015 prevalence study and we have also introduced the recording and publication of FGM patient data across the NHS in England. We will not stop FGM until we have changed attitudes within communities. In July 2016, the Department of Health delivered a targeted patient and public facing FGM prevention advertising campaign based on our understanding of the motivations for FGM which has generated over 650,000 views on social media.

We continue to work closely with community organisations, faith groups and survivors to better understand the motivations behind FGM. The FGM role and function is to coordinate work across Government and carry out outreach work. However, we are clear that all agencies have a role to play in tackling FGM.


Written Question
Radicalism and Religiously Aggravated Offences
Wednesday 7th September 2016

Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure an effective balance between its policies on tackling radicalisation and protecting people at risk of Islamaphobic attacks.

Answered by Sarah Newton

The Government is determined to tackle hate crime and extremism wherever it occurs.

The Government’s Prevent strategy, published in 2011, explicitly tackles all forms of terrorism. That includes protecting individuals who are at risk from far right and Neo-nazi extremism, as well as those vulnerable to Islamist extremism.

Prevent is about safeguarding people who are at risk of radicalisation. Prevent does not target a specific faith or ethnic group. Rather, Prevent protects those who are targeted by terrorist recruiters. Currently the greatest threat comes from terrorist recruiters inspired by Daesh. Our Prevent programme will necessarily reflect this by prioritising support for vulnerable British Muslims, and working in partnership with British Muslim communities and civil society groups.

The Prevent programme is implemented in a proportionate manner that takes into account the level of risk in any given area or institution. In some areas the risk of far right extremism may be significant and we would expect in those circumstances for Prevent activity to focus on the far right threat.

Far right extremism often brings with it the threat of anti-Muslim or antisemitic attacks. We have a strong record of action against Islamophobia and antisemitism and deplore all religious or racially motivated crimes.

We strongly condemn the increase in attacks on Muslims that have been seen in this country in recent years. We know the majority of people in United Kingdom join our condemnation, and we have seen great examples of individuals and communities standing together to tackle this hatred.

Muslims make an enormous contribution to British society. They are all too often the victims of hatred and intolerance in this country and overseas. This Government is determined to act to protect British Muslims.

The United Kingdom has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We will keep it under review to ensure it remains effective and appropriate in the face of new and emerging threats. We also published a new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan on 26 July which will drive forward action against all forms of hate crime, including anti-Muslim hatred. This will be taken forward in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes.


Written Question
Female Genital Mutilation
Tuesday 6th January 2015

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are resourcing the provision of training and education in communities in the United Kingdom in which female genital mutilation is practised.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Long-term and systematic eradication of female genital mutilation in the UK will require practising communities to abandon the practice themselves. To keep girls safe we need to work directly with local people who know what will work in their areas.

Faith has an important role to play. At the Girl Summit we launched declarations for faith leaders to sign against female genital mutilation and forced marriage. These have now been signed by over 350 leaders from all major faiths. These declarations make it clear that no religion condones the practice.

The Department for Communities and Local Government and the Government Equalities Office have also committed £270,000 to community projects to prevent female genital mutilation and other forms of so-called honour based violence. We recently announced the projects that successfully secured this funding. We will fund 17 community projects which include three organisations that will set up networks of community champions against female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

Many of these projects will work with young people. Brave young women and men have been at the forefront of campaigning against female genital mutilation and their courage and determination inspire us all to do more. Videos of the projects can be found at http://www.thinglink.com/scene/597214845217013762.


This funding is in addition to £100,000 committed by the Home Office to run a female genital mutilation community engagement initiative. The Home Office is funding 12 voluntary and community sector organisations to carry out community work to raise awareness of female genital mutilation amongst women already affected by this and young girls at-risk, as well as men in the community.


On 5 December 2014 the Government also launched a new female genital mutilation unit to drive a step change in nationwide outreach on female genital mutilation with criminal justice partners, children's services, healthcare professionals and affected communities.


The unit will deliver outreach support to local areas to assist them in developing their local response to tackling female genital mutilation and to raise awareness of the unit. The first phase of this work will be carried out in a series of training workshops which Forward UK are delivering to Local Safeguarding Children's Boards in high prevalence female genital mutilation areas.


The unit will also offer bespoke targeted peer support to local areas who want to strengthen their ability to tackle female genital mutilation. Organisations interested in receiving peer support or an outreach presentation can email the unit at

FGMenquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.