I wanted to thank you for participating in the recent roundtable discussion on religiously-motivated hate crime. It was a valuable opportunity to explore this difficult topic and I know that both the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP and the Communities Secretary, the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, appreciated the positive and open contributions from all participants.
The Hate Crime Action Plan clearly sets out the Government’s priorities in this area, and emphasises the importance we attach to working in partnership with communities. Continued close engagement with communities and the organisations that represent them will be essential in order to achieve our aims.
We agreed at the roundtable that the many examples of good practice should be captured and shared; we also agreed that a follow-up meeting would be held in the spring. Colleagues from DCLG will be in touch to discuss these points with you. If you wish to discuss any matters connected with the roundtable, or with hate crime more generally, please make contact with Sally Sealey.
Please also see below notes from the meeting.
Notes of the Interfaith Roundtable on Religiously Motivated Hate Crime 16 November 2016 in Committee Room 18 House of Commons:
The Home Secretary and the Communities Secretary hosted a productive interfaith roundtable with attendees from civil society groups, religious organisations and statutory bodies. DCLG Director-General for Local Government and Public Services chaired the discussion
Key themes:
More education at an early stage about religious differences
Encouraging communities to do more themselves
A plea to government to call out more when it sees inappropriate behaviour (particular from the far right) as part of a broader message of “being an upstander, not a bystander”,
A sense of improvement in policing but still further to go
The role of social media companies
Removing simple barriers such as the way that on-line hate crime reporting forms work.
Next Steps:
Suggestion that the roundtable should be convened twice a year- agreed that officials will convene an initial follow-up meeting in the spring to continue our dialogue on addressing religiously motivated hate crime and the implementation of the Hate Crime Action Plan.
We will work with True Vision to try and simplify on- line reporting forms
Officials will work with the roundtable attendees to identify best practice examples which we will collate and place on the True Vision website.
Roundtable attendees will be kept informed on the Ministerial seminar planned for early next year which will bring together victims’ groups, stakeholders and industry representatives. We intend to use that seminar to agree on specific actions to reduce the harm caused by online abuse.
List of attendees:
| Organisation | Name | E-mail address |
| Attorney General | Solicitor General- Robert Buckland | Leeann.Thayalanayagam@attorneygeneral.gsi.gov.uk |
| Crown Prosecution Service | Alison Saunders DPP | Thomas.Bacon@cps.gsi.gov.uk |
| National Police Chiefs’ Council | Sara Thornton | sara.thornton@npcc.pnn.police.uk |
| Staff Officer – ben.gasson@npcc.pnn.police.uk | ||
| National Police Chiefs’ Councils Hate Crime Group | Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton | mark.hamilton2@psni.pnn.police.uk |
| Ahmadiyya Muslim Association United Kingdom | Rafiq Ahmad Hayat | Fareed Ahmad |
| National Secretary External Affairs Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK | ||
| Email: Fareed.Ahmad@Ahmadiyya.org.uk | ||
| Community Security Trust | David Delew | David.d@cst.org.uk |
| Tell MAMA National project of Faith Matters | iman@faith-matters.co.uk | |
| Iman Abou Atta | ||
| Bolton Council of Mosques | Manager@thebcom.org | |
| Ibrahim Kala | ||
| Muslim Women’s Network | Faeeza Vaid | contact@mwnuk.co.uk |
| Association of Police and Crime Commissioners | Nazir Afzal OBE Former Chief Crown Prosecutor CPS, North West Area | Nazir.Afzal@APCCS.POLICE.UK |
| Send Correspondence | ||
| Dawn.Osborne@APCCS.POLICE.UK | ||
| Lambeth Palace | Rev Mark Poulson | mark.poulson@lambethpalace.org.uk |
| Joseph Interfaith Foundation | Mehri Nikam MBE | info@josephinterfaithfoundation.org |
| Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia | Hayyan Ayaz Bhabha | bhabhah@parliament.uk |
| Board of Deputies | Gillian Merron | gillian.merron@bod.org.uk |
| Muslim Jewish Forum | Mohammed Amin | Mohammed.amin@btinternet.com |
| Hindu Council UK | Sanjay Jagatia | generalsecretary@hinducounciluk.org |
| Network of Sikh Organisations | Lord Singh CBE | sikhmessenger@aol.com |
| Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime | Mike Ainsworth | mikeainsworth@hotmail.co.uk |
| Churchwatch | Nick Tolson | nicktolson@hotmail.co.uk |
| Sikh Council | Gurmel Singh Kandola | gurmel.singh@sikhcounciluk.org |
| Faith Forums for London | Mustafa Field MBE | |
| Mustafa@faithsforum4london.org | ||
| Manchester Cathedral –Interfaith Forum | Rogers Morgan Govender | Alison.Rowland@manchestercathedral.org |
| Karimia Institute | m.hussain@karimia.com | |
| Dr. Musharraf Hussain OBE | ||
| Independent Advisor to Duke of Lancaster Regiment and Lancaster Constabulary | Faz Patel MBE | jangaria@hotmail.com |
| Nottingham Muslim Women’s Network | Shazia Khan | shazia.khan@nmwn.co.uk |
| 07971404313 | ||
| ACEVO | Asheem Singh | Asheem.singh@acevo.org.uk |
| Hope Not Hate | nick@hopenothate.org.uk | |
| Nick Lowles | ||
| British Muslim Youth | Muhbeen Hussain | info@britishmuslimyouth.org.uk |
| Awareness Foundation | Rev Nadim Nassar | director@awareness-foundation.com |
| Head of Coptic Christian Church | Bishop Angealos | Exec Assistant to HG Bishop Angaelos admin@copticcentre.com |
| Al-Khoei Foundation | Yousif Al-Khoei | yalkhoei@hotmail.com |
| Head of Church Urban Fund | Canon Paul Hackwood | paul.hackwood@cuf.org.uk |
| (Near Neighbours) | ||
| Head of Twitter UK Policy | Nick Pickles | npickles@twitter.com |
| Head of Leeds Maqqa Mosque | Imam Qari Asim | qmasim@yahoo.co.uk |
| UK Policy Manager Google | Naomi Gummer | ngummer@google.com |
| Law enforcement and cybersecurity policy development lead Facebook | Gail Kent | gailkent@fb.com |
| (Simon Milner attending on her behalf) | ||
Dr Jo Farrar
Director General Local Government and Public Services
Department for Communities and Local Government
Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF