The Church of England has a long and proud tradition of working across faiths and communities to promote understanding, strengthen relationships and support community cohesion. Most dioceses have dedicated interfaith advisers who work with clergy and congregations to encourage engagement with people of different faiths and backgrounds, supported by the Church’s national Presence and Engagement programme.

Through its parish network, the Church maintains a presence in communities across the country, helping to build the trust and long-term relationships that are essential to bringing people together. Churches regularly work alongside other faith organisations, local authorities, schools, community groups and the police to foster mutual understanding, tackle local challenges and support peaceful, resilient communities.

The Church also supports the work of organisations such as the Church Urban Fund and Near Neighbours, which play a vital role in promoting interfaith understanding, encouraging social action and strengthening community ties. Together, these partnerships help ensure that churches continue to contribute positively to community cohesion, social justice and good relations across our diverse society.

The list of neighbourhoods funded and full details of the selection methodology employed are available online here.

It is for individual organisations and employers to determine which training offer and provider is best suited to their sectors. As set-out in Protecting What Matters, tackling religious hatred requires a whole-of-society response, and improving understanding across society of how religious hatred manifests and how it should be addressed is vital.

The referenced Protecting What Matters commitment is being led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). DCMS is investing £400 million in new and upgraded grassroots sports facilities through to 2030.

In 2026/27, this includes the following commitments:

• £85 million will be invested through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme to build and upgrade pitches and facilities UK-wide, funding projects such as artificial grass pitches, changing rooms, and floodlights. This funding is designed to benefit the areas most in need, with 50% of investment going to the 30% most deprived areas in the UK. At least 40% of funded projects have a multi-sport offer, and the programme also aims to increase access and participation levels for under-represented groups, including women and girls, across the UK.
• The UK Government and NBA will invest £5 million each into basketball and basketball-led multi-sport facilities in England.
• At least £2.5 million will be invested via the Lawn Tennis Association into covered courts in England for tennis, padel and other activities, and additional funding to enable a wider range of sporting bodies to trial innovative funding pathways.
• £3 million will be invested via the England and Wales Cricket Board to build covered, all-weather multi-sport domes in Birmingham, Bolton, Derby, Newcastle, and Nottingham.

Additionally, DCMS’ Youth Matters Fund is a merged capital and revenue fund that will provide over £400 million over the next few years to enable youth organisations across the country to deliver high-quality youth work and activities as well as refurbish or build up to 250 youth facilities. Further details on when it will open to applicants, along with guidance on the application process and eligibility criteria, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund is made up of the Creative Foundations Fund, Museum Renewal Fund, Heritage at Risk Capital Fund, Heritage Revival Fund, Places of Worship Renewal Fund, and Libraries Improvement Fund.

Funding details for each area are publicly available on gov.uk in the press release of 21 January 2026, titled “Government announces bumper £1.5 billion package to restore national pride”. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-bumper-15-billion-package-to-restore-national-pride

Details regarding the initial round of funding are also available in the 14 April 2026 press release, titled “130 cultural venues, museums and libraries to receive funding boost that will improve access to arts and culture across the country”. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/130-cultural-venues-museums-and-libraries-to-receive-funding-boost-that-will-improve-access-to-arts-and-culture-across-the-country

Details of further awards made in future funding rounds will be published in due course.

As announced in the Protecting What Matters publication on 9 March 2026, The Home Office is in the process of updating the engagement principles and accompanying guidance. This includes ensuring that our due diligence and risk assessment capability is proportionate and fit for purpose when considering engagement with external individuals, organisations and groups.

The updated guidance will support ministerial departments to undertake appropriate due diligence and other relevant checks to identify and manage risks, ensuring that engagement decisions are informed, evidence-based and consistent with the Government's responsibilities. Decisions on engagement will continue to be taken on a case-by-case basis.

As set out in Protecting What Matters, the Government’s plan setting out steps to improve social cohesion, faith and belief groups, including religious institutions, play an important role in bringing people together, building trust across difference, and supporting communities to respond to local challenges.

We see this contribution in practice through the involvement of faith and belief groups in numerous different programmes. As a part of the Pride in Place Programme, many faith and belief groups are playing an active role in local decision making to improve their area. Through projects being developed under the Common Ground Resilience Fund, local authorities and community organisations – including faith and belief groups – are being supported to strengthen relationships between different communities and build resilience to local tensions. Through long-standing government funded programmes such as Near Neighbours, faith and belief groups are helping to bring people together in religiously and ethnically diverse communities; and through Inter Faith Week they are helping to celebrate and promote the role of faith communities in building understanding and friendship across difference.

All of these examples underscore why the Government made a number of commitments in Protecting What Matters to work with and celebrate faith and belief communities in order to improve societal understanding of different religions and beliefs, support tolerance, and help build a more cohesive and resilient country.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer to UIN 19120 on 1 September 2026.

The November 2025 Asylum Policy Statement set out plans to restore order and increase public confidence in the integrity of the asylum system. The reforms aim to balance increased control over those entering the UK by irregular means with successful integration for those granted protection, enabling people to contribute positively to society. Integration brings significant benefits for individuals, taxpayers, and communities.

Under Core Protection, protection will be granted for the duration of need, lasting only until a refugee can safely return home. We have started to implement these changes. Adults and accompanied children claiming asylum from 2 March 2026 will receive a 30-month period of protection, if granted. This change marks the start of introducing a new regime for those seeking protection in the UK.

Individuals will need to apply to renew their status every 30 months. Before their permission to stay expires, an individual must lodge the relevant application to renew their permission to stay under the Immigration Rules in place at the relevant time to continue to receive their associated entitlements of right to work and access to public funds. The HO will also assess whether an individual’s protection needs are ongoing for example, if there has been a significant and durable change in the country situation. At a 30-month review, refugees with a continuing need of sanctuary will have their protection renewed, while those who no longer have a protection need will be expected to return home.

The approach to reviewing status will be efficient and targeted; we will reassess where country conditions or personal circumstances have changed significantly. We will build on the efficiencies that have already seen record levels of initial decisions being made. We will continue to monitor staffing levels and will deploy our workforce flexibly subject to business needs as we have done in the past.

We do not want people to remain on Core Protection for the long term, and only those who do remain on Core Protection will have their protection needs regularly reviewed. We will encourage refugees to switch out of the Core Protection route wherever possible into the new, Protection, Work and Study route, as part of the “core protection model”.

This new route will be created as an alternative to Core Protection for those who can contribute through work or study - directing people back into a controlled migration system, that they have otherwise stepped around. This is fairer and will contribute to better social cohesion. We want to encourage as many refugees as possible to switch from Core Protection into this new Protection, Work and Study route. That is why there is no limit to the number of refugees who can switch into this route and unlock additional entitlements, such as a shorter route to settlement and ability to sponsor family members, and to integrate more fully into the communities providing them sanctuary.

Those on the Protection, Work and Study Route will not undergo a safe, return review every 30 months as under Core Protection, provided that they continue in employment or education and successfully renew their leave on that basis. We will set out the rules of these routes in due course.

The Home Office is committed to changing the way we deliver our protection offer. We will continue to monitor the impact of this policy as it is developed and implemented. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to impact assessments which will include considering the impact on integration and ensuring value for money. Equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, Home Office officials consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, and the impact that asylum reforms will have on those with protected characteristics, is no exception.

The asylum and protection measures in the Bill, are just one aspect of wider reforms to transform the asylum system. The impact assessment will be completed once the whole model is fully designed. We are committed to ensuring that proposals are considered carefully, so that they support creation of a system which is both fair and sustainable.

Further details will be set out in future Immigration Rules changes.

Details of the role of the Special Representative on anti-Muslim hostility will be published in due course.

The Common Ground Resilience Fund 2026-27 will support a range of activity to strengthen social cohesion, build resilience and respond to community tensions. This includes funding for locally led interventions in Blackpool Council, Nottingham City Council and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and support for local authorities through the Government's Areas Team.

Up to £2.5 million will also be awarded through the Common Ground Award, a competitive grant scheme for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations working to strengthen social cohesion and build connections between communities. Successful organisations will be identified through the competition process. Funding is also available to support local areas in responding to emerging cohesion risks and threats.

Separately, the Government has made available an additional £1 million through the Common Ground Resilience Fund to support communities and places facing the greatest risk of antisemitism.

It is for individual organisations and employers to determine which training offer and provider is best suited to their sectors. As set-out in Protecting What Matters, tackling religious hatred requires a whole-of-society response, and improving understanding across society of how religious hatred manifests and how it should be addressed is vital.

My department is working across Government to deliver our manifesto commitment to double the size of the co-operative and mutuals sector, following the commitment to establish a Co-operatives Development Unit in Protecting What Matters and the Pride in Place Strategy. We will set out more details in due course.