To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's statistical release, Hate Crime: 2019-20, published on 13 October 2020, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) Islamophobia and (b) the number of Islamophobic incidents.
Answered on
2 November 2020
This Government recognises the discrimination and intolerance faced by Muslim communities and the UK has a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crime.
The Government has taken steps to combat anti-Muslim Hatred including supporting Tell MAMA?(Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks)?with?just over £2.8m between 2016 and 2020 to monitor and combat anti-Muslim hatred.
In addition, the Places of Worship protective security funding scheme, which provides security measures for mosques and other places of worship, has been allocated £3.2m for 2020-21 - double what was awarded last year.
This Government is committed to continuing the promotion of shared values among people of all backgrounds through sustainable social integration and meaningful civic participation whilst tackling and preventing religiously and racially discriminatory behaviour and those acting against others because of their faith or race. Therefore, we have launched a competitive grant scheme for 2020-21 to support projects in this space, with a budget of up to £2M.