Baroness Afshar – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Afshar on 2015-12-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim communities in the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Everyone in Britain has the right to feel safe and at ease in the place where they live. There is no place for hatred against people because of their race, gender, ethnic origin, faith, sexual orientation, age or disability.

Anti-Muslim attacks rose 30-40% in the first two weeks after the Paris attacks. These attacks are unacceptable in Britain. The Government funds Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) to encourage reporting of these crimes and to support victims. We have also set up the first cross Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group to raise awareness of Islamaphobic attacks. In addition, the Prime Minister announced that the police will disaggregate hate crime by religion beginning in April 2016. This will help the police to build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to hold them to account.