Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, and if so when, they intend to instigate an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in politics at all levels.

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. This includes anti-Muslim attacks which are unacceptable in Britain.

The Government is already taking a number of steps to counter Islamaphobia and does not intend to carry out an independent inquiry. We fund 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 police began to disaggregate hate crime by religion in April 2016. This will help the police to build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to hold them to account.