Sir (East Ham) (Lab)
(Urgent Question): Will the Minister make a statement about the
closure that has been announced today of the Inter Faith Network?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities ()
May I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of the
Inter Faith Network? I am grateful for all his work as chair of
the all-party group on faith and society and as a long-standing
advocate for dialogue across faiths.
As the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset () said during an Adjournment
debate in January, we know full well the role that faith
communities play in our society. We are extremely supportive of
efforts by faith groups and others to bring together people of
different faiths and beliefs.
The Secretary of State wrote to the co-chairs of the Inter Faith
Network on 19 January this year to inform them that he was minded
to withdraw the offer of funding for the 2023-24 financial year.
This was because of the appointment of a member of the Muslim
Council of Britain to the board of trustees of the IFN. As the
House will be aware, successive Governments have had a
long-standing policy of non-engagement with the MCB. The
appointment of an MCB member to the core governance structure of
a Government-funded organisation therefore poses a reputational
risk to the Government.
The Secretary of State invited the IFN to make representations on
this matter, which it subsequently did. He carefully considered
the points raised by the IFN before concluding that its points
were outweighed by the need to maintain the Government’s policy
of non- engagement with the MCB, and the risk of compromising the
credibility and effectiveness of that policy. Inter-faith work is
valuable, but that does not require us to use taxpayers’ money in
a way that legitimises the influence of organisations such as the
MCB.
The Department regularly reminds our partners, including the IFN,
of the importance of developing sustainable funding arrangements
rather than relying on taxpayers’ money, which can never be
guaranteed. The potential closure of the organisation is
therefore a matter for the IFN, as an independent charity, and
not the Government. The Government continue to be fully
supportive of developing and maintaining strong relationships
across faiths and beliefs.
Sir (East Ham) (Lab)
Since 1987, the Inter Faith Network has been the UK’s principal
vehicle for inter-faith dialogue, supporting the annual Inter
Faith Week, and activities and dialogue undertaken by inter-faith
groups across the whole country. The network has been supported
by Government funding for some 20 years. The IFN was told on 31
March last year, before the trustee appointment that the Minister
referred to, that its funding would be ended from the following
day. Why has the organisation been treated in that extraordinary
way? Last July, the network received a letter from the Secretary
of State to inform it that it would, after all, receive funding
for the current financial year. That promise has never been
honoured. Why not?
Given the debate in this Chamber yesterday, is it not
extraordinarily stupid to be shutting down at this precise point
our principal vehicle in the UK for Muslim-Jewish dialogue?
Surely we need more, not to be shutting it down? Why has the
Secretary of State not honoured the commitment that he made to me
to meet me, the right hon. Member for Chipping Barnet () and the noble Lord Singh
to discuss this matter before making his decision, and will the
Minister pay tribute and express thanks to the trustees and
officers of the Inter Faith Network for the very important
contribution that they have made to UK national life over the
last 37 years?
I truly believe that inter-faith work makes a good contribution
to our society. My constituency is one of the most diverse in the
entire country, and I have on a number of occasions brought
together my mosque, my synagogue, Christian churches and my
gurdwara. We recognise the benefits of inter-faith activity. I
thank the Inter Faith Network for its work; however, we have
always been clear with that organisation and any other
organisation or charity that the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities funds that they need to put in place
alternative sources of funding. As I said, the Government cannot
fund this organisation when a trustee is part of the MCB.
(Chipping Barnet)
(Con)
I was contacted last year by my constituent Esmond Rosen of the
Barnet Multi Faith Forum, who expressed concern about the
imminent withdrawal of funding from the IFN. As we have heard, it
looked in July as if the problem was resolved —at least for the
financial year—so it is regrettable that we are in this position.
I completely understand the importance of not engaging with
organisations that have hard-line views, but surely we can find
some compromise to keep the IFN in business, because it does
incredibly valuable work to foster respect and mutual
understanding between different faith groups.
I thank my right hon. Friend for all her work on inter-faith
matters. What has changed since July is the appointment in
November of a trustee who is a member of the MCB. In terms of
inter-faith work, there are so many examples of positive,
thriving initiatives across the country that are bringing people
together. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities funds a number of those partners, including Near
Neighbours and Strengthening Faith Institutions, which organise
local-level inter-faith events to foster community cohesion.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I call the shadow Minister.
(Blaydon) (Lab)
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir ) for securing the urgent
question.
Inter-faith and multi-faith dialogue are absolutely essential
components of society, not only to resolve differences but to
build strong and collaborative communities that are able to come
together in times of need. Given recent events—the war and
violence in Gaza—that is more important than ever. As I am sure
the whole House recognises, the Government have a special
responsibility to facilitate positive relationships between
different faith communities, and although I appreciate that the
Minister has now given some explanation of why they have chosen
to withdraw funding for the IFN, outstanding questions remain.
Let me ask the Minister some straightforward questions. When was
the decision to withdraw funding from the network made? What
impact assessment was made, and what discussions were had about
the vital need to continue to promote understanding about and
between different faith groups, and to encourage co-operation?
When was the Inter Faith Network notified of the decision? Does
the Minister have plans to increase support for other groups to
make up for any loss of provision arising from this decision?
Every Department will inevitably monitor and review the grants
that they award, but the House should expect that to be done in
the spirit of due process. As politicians, we have a
responsibility to bring communities together. At a time when
divisions are being exposed, I hope that the Minister can assure
the House that the Government remain committed to inter-faith and
multi-faith dialogue.
I thank the hon. Member for her comments. Again, I stress the
importance of inter-faith work. I see it in my own constituency;
it is very important. The Government are already supporting other
institutions that do such work.
The hon. Member asked specifically for timelines. The Secretary
of State wrote to the IFN on 19 January saying that he was
“minded to withdraw” the offer of funding in light of what we
have discussed. He invited the Inter Faith Network to make
representations to him on this matter, and he received its
response on 22 January. After careful consideration of those
representations, he confirmed that he wishes to withdraw the
offer of funding to the Inter Faith Network for the reasons that
we have discussed. He wrote to the co-chairs on 21 February to
inform them of his decision. I stress again that the Department
has been very clear that the Inter Faith Network should have been
developing other sustainable sources of funding.
(Harrow East) (Con)
I am proud to represent the constituency in this country with the
greatest adherence to religious faith, and many of those faiths
are minority religions. We have a very strong inter-faith council
that brings together people of all religions to sort out their
differences and sort out tensions. I have had representations
from the Jain community, the Zoroastrian community and others,
expressing their concern that the majority religions—the larger
religions in this country—will always be able to have their say
because of their strength and power, but the minority religions
will not. Given the Government’s decision to withdraw funding
from the Inter Faith Network, what is going to take the place of
that important organisation that brings together people of all
faiths, enabling them to settle their differences?
I thank my hon. Friend for everything he does with his faith
communities in his constituency. As I have said, DLUHC continues
to fund a range of partners, including Near Neighbours and
Strengthening Faith Institutions; we believe in inter-faith work
to strengthen community cohesion.
(Halifax) (Lab)
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir ) for having secured this
urgent question; back in January, I secured an Adjournment debate
urging the Government to think again about their decision. One of
the things I find most concerning about how this decision has
been handled is that, on occasion, journalists seem to have been
in possession of letters from the Secretary of State to the Inter
Faith Network at the same time as the IFN received them, or
possibly before. That is no way to carry on. There has been very
little attempt to have any serious conversations with the Inter
Faith Network without those letters being in the public domain
almost immediately. This work is more important now than ever
before, so will the Minister think again about funding this
organisation into the future? It is not too late.
As I have said, very proper consideration went into this decision
after we had heard representations from the Inter Faith Network.
The decision on Government funding has now been made. We have
always been clear that the Inter Faith Network needs to develop
alternative sources of funding; institutions such as these cannot
be solely reliant on Government funding.
(Christchurch) (Con)
Is that not the point? This organisation has had about £2 million
in income in the past five years, and three quarters of that
income has come from the Government—from the taxpayer. Is not the
message for other organisations that they should not be too
dependent on taxpayer funding?
My hon. Friend has expressed that point very well.
(Bath) (LD)
I have been contacted by my constituent, Diana Francis—who is a
Quaker—about her deep concern regarding the sudden withdrawal of
funds for the Inter Faith Network. My inter-faith group in Bath
has done invaluable work to bring communities together, nurturing
tolerance, understanding, and the dialogue that is so important
between people of different religious backgrounds. Can the
Minister not see how this sudden decision to withdraw funding at
a time of heightened tensions only drives division, and that
people in my constituency are really concerned that there is
nothing that will replace an organisation as unique as the Inter
Faith Network?
As I have said, we strongly welcome all of the inter-faith work
that happens across our communities. We have always been clear
that the Inter Faith Network needed to diversify its funding
sources, and we were also very clear that funding would not be
given after 2024 in any instance. That was communicated to the
IFN back in July.
(Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
I declare an interest: I am an active member of Christians in
Parliament and a former parliamentary churchwarden of St
Margaret’s. The closure of the Inter Faith Network is not
seriously about a relatively small amount of money; it is about
the message it sends at this time in our country, when all of us
in this House are working for inter-faith dialogue, trying to
cool the atmosphere and address the problems we know about in
many communities in this country. Psychologically, it is the
wrong time and the wrong move. Please, for the good of our
country and for community relations, will the Government think
again?
As I have said, inter-faith work is very important, and we fund a
number of organisations to do it. I will not repeat the names; I
have already mentioned them. This decision was taken because, as
part of the core governance of the Inter Faith Network, there is
a member of the MCB, with which the Government do not maintain
relations.
(Oldham East and
Saddleworth) (Lab)
I reiterate the points that other Members have made, particularly
those of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir ) and my hon. Friend the
Member for Halifax (). For this to happen in the
current international context is absolutely outrageous. It is a
politically obtuse decision. May I press the Minister on the
questions asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon () about the risk assessment the
Government have done to understand the impact on community
relations?
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. As I have said, very
careful consideration went into this decision. It has been a
long-standing policy of successive Governments, first introduced
in 2009 by a Labour Government, not to engage with the MCB.
(Newport West) (Lab)
I listened carefully to the Minister’s response to my right hon.
Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir ), when she said that the
Government take inter-faith work very seriously, but
actions speak louder than words. Cutting off funding with just a
few hours’ notice is not helpful to this important organisation.
What steps will DLUHC now take to support dialogue in any areas
where it has been lost?
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. As I say, DLUHC funds a
number of organisations that work very intensively at a local
level to support inter-faith work and community cohesion.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary
group for international freedom of religion or belief. As images
from outside this House last night made clear, it is very
important that people of all faiths have a point at which to meet
and to focus on the things that draw us together, rather than
those that divide us. How will the Government and the Minister
achieve that when this body, the Inter Faith Network, closes? How
can we—that means all of us in this House together, and those
outside this House—continue on journeys of embracing all faiths
and increasing awareness of those faiths?
I think understanding of faiths is incredibly important, and that
is why we encourage inter-faith work, especially at a local
level. I have already talked about what I do in my constituency,
and I find it very valuable. In this particular instance, we
cannot continue to fund the Inter Faith Network, but we do fund
other organisations, and we wish them well. We have always made
it clear to the Inter Faith Network that it needed to develop
alternative sources of funding.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I thank the Minister for answering the urgent question.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat in the
form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable friend
to an Urgent Question in
another place. The Statement is as follows:
“May I thank the right honourable gentleman for raising the issue
of the Inter Faith Network? I am grateful for all his work as
chair of the All-party Group on Faith and Society and as a
long-standing advocate for dialogue across faiths.
As my honourable friend the Minister for Local Government said
during an Adjournment debate on this on 10 January, we know full
well the role that faith communities play in our society. We are
extremely supportive of efforts by faith groups and others to
bring together people of different faiths and beliefs.
The Secretary of State wrote to the co-chairs of the Inter Faith
Network on 19 January this year to inform them that he was minded
to withdraw the offer of funding for the 2023-24 financial year.
This was because of the appointment of a member of the Muslim
Council of Britain to the board of trustees of the IFN. As the
House will be aware, successive Governments have had a
long-standing policy of non-engagement with the MCB. The
appointment of an MCB member to the core governance structure of
a government-funded organisation therefore poses a reputational
risk to the Government.
The Secretary of State invited the IFN to make representations on
this matter, which it subsequently did. The Secretary of State
carefully considered the points raised by the IFN before
concluding that its points were outweighed by the need to
maintain the Government’s policy of non-engagement with the MCB,
and the risk of compromising the credibility and effectiveness of
that policy. Inter-faith work is valuable, but that does not
require us to use taxpayers’ money in a way that legitimises the
influence of organisations such as the MCB.
The department regularly reminds our partners, including the IFN,
of the importance of developing sustainable funding arrangements
rather than relying on taxpayers’ money, which can never be
guaranteed. The potential closure of the organisation is
therefore a matter for the IFN, as an independent charity, and
not the Government. The Government are and continue to be fully
supportive of developing and maintaining strong relationships
across faiths and beliefs”.
2.13pm
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating that Answer. Our
country is strengthened by the richness and diversity of the
faith traditions here, but the Government have a responsibility
to help to facilitate positive relationships between different
faith communities—all the more so in these difficult times.
We have now had some explanation of what has gone on here, but
there are outstanding questions. First, funding for the current
financial year was offered to the IFN last July, so can the
Minister explain when the decision was taken to withdraw it and,
crucially, whether the charity was told before the work being
funded during this year had been undertaken? Secondly, have the
Government made plans to make up for this loss of capacity by
supporting other work facilitating relationships between faith
communities?
(Con)
I can assure the noble Baroness that we have kept the IFN
informed of every move that we have made on its funding issues,
and it has had the chance to discuss them with us. As for other
funding, I absolutely agree with her that work facilitated and
supported by government is really important for inter-faith work.
I personally go and see a lot of inter-faith work going on, and
we are still supporting more than 800,000 a year in
organisations—people such as Near Neighbours and others that are
doing this important work in our communities.
(LD)
My Lords, whichever way you look at this, the optics are not
good. It was news to me that the Government do not engage with
the Muslim Council of Britain. Our group met its new, and first
female, secretary-general only a few weeks ago. I have two
questions for the Minister. First, this has been a long-standing
non-relationship, promoted quite a few years ago; is it not time
that the Government reviewed this non-relationship with the
Muslim Council of Britain, particularly in the light of the
current situation and the fact that it works with over 500
organisations to promote knowledge and understanding of the
Muslim faith and counter islamophobia? Secondly, will the
Government review this decision? It is petty, wrong-headed and
counterproductive. It does not put the Government in a good
light—but it could if the Government were prepared to review
it.
(Con)
My Lords, it is not just this Government; successive Governments
of different colours have had a long-standing policy of
non-engagement with the MCB. British Muslims are a crucial part
of Britain’s history and our way of life in Britain today. Each
and every Muslim in every community in every corner of the United
Kingdom should know that their religion will never act as a
barrier to achieving their ambitions. The Government recognise
the discrimination and intolerance faced by British Muslims,
particularly at this time. We will not tolerate anti-Muslim
hatred in any form and will seek to stamp it our wherever it
occurs. This does not mean, however, that the Government have to
use public funds to support the influence of organisations such
as the MCB. We have no plans to review this decision.
(CB)
My Lords, I speak as a founder member of the Inter Faith Network
back in the 1980s, when it was very difficult to get people of
different religions into the same room to talk to each other.
That initiative owed much to Brian Pearce, a former civil
servant. The Inter Faith Network has done some remarkably good
work, particularly in the celebration of the millennium and
getting religion in the census. There has been a difficulty in
this country in that there is a sort of rule that people cannot
talk about religion—people from different religions would come
together and talk about anything but the commonalities and
differences in their religions. There has been movement in the
direction of actually discussing the importance of commonalities
and building on them. It is sad that this closure is happening at
this time, especially as the reason given is that the board
contains a member of the Muslim Council of Britain. It is not a
proscribed organisation, and it is better to have people with
different views talking together to move the country forward in
respect for one another.
(Con)
I completely agree with the noble Lord that it is important that
we have safe places where people of all faiths can discuss the
issues surrounding faith and their relationships and to get
together in communities. I thank him for his work, including in
the early days of the Inter Faith Network. It was funded by the
department from 2007 and we have given it £4 million since then.
We have always said to it, however—as we say to any organisation
that we fund—that it has to diversify its funding streams in
order to become sustainable. No organisation can be reliant for
ever on government funding, because we just do not know what is
going to happen. I cannot reiterate the views of the Government
again.
The Lord
My Lords, I too pay tribute to the work of the Inter Faith
Network. As has been stated, surely the optics of this are not
good. I would like to ask the Minister how far non-engagement
extends, because surely, in our society, we want to encourage
dialogue, even with those organisations that may express some
views with which we disagree. To not be willing to engage at all
with an organisation that has not been proscribed goes against
all the efforts being made to bring our society together—it seems
very strange.
(Con)
I do not particularly think it is strange. It is a long-standing
decision not to engage with the MCB. The Government are doing
what successive Governments have done. The person was on the
council as a member, but it was when they became a trustee that
things became more difficult for the Government.
(CB)
Since it has been a long-standing arrangement that the Muslim
Council of Britain should not be regarded as an organisation that
the Government talk to, would the Government now be prepared to
review that?
(Con)
I cannot say. Reviews like that are carried out by the Home
Office. I will certainly take that back and ask the question but,
as far as I know, there are no plans to look at it again.
(Lab)
Does the Minister think that the Government’s action in this case
is proportionate, given the huge importance in our society of
interfaith dialogue and the fact that one person seems to be
spoiling the show? Surely the Secretary of State would have a
broader vision than that.
(Con)
The Secretary of State carefully considered the implications of
this and of ceasing the funding, including the potential impact
on the Inter Faith Network itself and interfaith relations in the
United Kingdom. The noble Lord is absolutely right: interfaith
work is valuable, but there are very many more positive examples
of thriving initiatives across the country that bring people
together. That does not require us to use taxpayers’ money in a
way that legitimises the influence of organisations such as the
MCB.
