Interface with Faith Communities (Hansard, 10 June 2003)

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what way faith communities were consulted on the membership of his Department's Working Group which is reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities. [115973]

§ Beverley Hughes
The Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom and the Inner Cities Religious Council were consulted on the membership of the Working Group. These highly experienced bodies are fully representative of the wide range of faith communities living in the United Kingdom.

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average age is of the faith community members of his Department's Working Group which is reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities. [115974]

§ Beverley Hughes
Age was not a consideration in inviting individuals from the faith communities to join the group. The sole criterion for selection was that individuals should have significant personal experience of having been involved in consultations by Government. The need to restrict the Group to a manageable size meant that only one such individual could be included from each of the five largest faith communities, as well as two further members to represent the Black-led Churches and the smaller faith communities.
819W
Adults of all ages have the opportunity to contribute to this review through their inputs to the questionnaires which have been sent to 106 faith representative organisations across the country.

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria have been established for use by his Department's Working Group which is reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities, to assess which organisations will represent faith communities in consultations with different Government departments. [115976]

§ Beverley Hughes
The Working Group will consider draft criteria at its next meeting on 20 June 2003.

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the(a) membership and (b) terms of reference are of his Department's Review Steering Group to whom his Department's Working Group, which is reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities, will report. [115977]

§ Beverley Hughes
These details will be announced later this month.

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Gurdwara councils formally consulted as part of the mapping exercise by his Department's Working Group which is reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities; and what criteria were used to select the councils. [115978]

§ Beverley Hughes
My noble Friend, (Lord Filkin) will write to my hon Friend with a list of the Gurdwara Councils which have been consulted. These were selected on authoritative advice as those which have particular experience of having been consulted by local and national Government, and to achieve a regional spread

§ Rob Marris
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to which Sikh organisations a questionnaire has been sent by his Department's Working Group reviewing the Government's Interface with Faith Communities; and what criteria were used to select the organisations. [115979]

§ Beverley Hughes
My noble Friend, (Lord Filkin) will write to my hon. Friend with a list of the 38 national and local Sikh organisations which have been sent the questionnaire.
Regarding the criteria used in their selection, I refer my hon. Friend to the second part of the written reply given to the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) on 19 May 2003, Official Report, column 643W.