§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many religiously motivated attacks on persons or property occurred in England and Wales in the most recent three months and in each previous quarter since September 2001; and what preventative methods they are using. [HL3151]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin)Statistics at national level for religiously motivated attacks are currently not kept centrally. The Metropolitan Police Force has begun to keep its own statistics on such attacks, following the introduction of new religiously aggravated offences in December 2001 as part of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act. All police services now keep records of racist incidents in their areas, and the Home Office will be looking to encourage all forces similarly to record instances of religiously motivated incidents.
Since January 2002 the Crown Prosecution Service has had 37 cases of religiously aggravated offences referred to it for prosecution by the police.
A number of forces have dedicated liaison officers at management level (inspector or chief inspector) with a borough or local authority wide remit. These play a pivotal role, which is likely to include responsibility for reducing crimes against groups identified by, among other characteristics, ethnic, racial or religious status.
The Metropolitan Police Service holds regular meetings with representatives from many of faith groups in order to record and react, where necessary, to community concerns. In the aftermath of the events of September 11 2001 and more recently the war in Iraq, high visibility uniformed patrols were assigned to potentially vulnerable religious premises. Dialogue has been encouraged between police and faith groups at a local level, and these together with local initiatives have assisted in keeping faith crimes at a low level in what have been tense times for many faith groups.