Burnham could get mosque security funding devolved
Greater Manchester Combined Authority is in discussions with the Home Office about taking control of the ‘protective security’ scheme
Decisions about tightly-controlled Home Office funding for security at UK mosques could be devolved to local councils after an intervention from Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Hyphen can reveal.
We reported in May that the government had introduced a controversial new “code of conduct” warning faith organisations that their applications for a share of the £40m annual pot could be rejected if they “undermine the work” of the government or share the wrong posts on social media.
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But local authorities could take decisions out of the government’s hands if the GMCA and the Greater Manchester Council of Mosques (GMCM) get their way.
Hammad Khan, president of Manchester Central Mosque and representative of the GMCM, told Hyphen that devolving the funding would allow combined authorities like Greater Manchester to allocate the funding more quickly and efficiently, meeting the individual needs of the mosques.
The funding can be used to cover the costs of equipment such as CCTV as well as security guards. Khan said, however, that the application process was opaque and that many applications by mosques in Greater Manchester had been rejected without feedback.
Mosques and Islamic centres across the UK have told Hyphen that they have been waiting for up to two years for their applications to be reviewed, without any feedback regarding the status of their application or any point of contact.
Khan first approached the GMCA to discuss the possibility of devolving the funding in February, two days after an attacker armed with an axe was apprehended at Manchester Central Mosque. Hyphen understands that the GMCA subsequently approached the Home Office with the request for more control over the cash, with discussions ongoing.
“The funding needed to be devolved and it needed to be tailor-made to each individual building and community,” said Khan. “Currently, when applying, we can choose from a list of measures, but that might not be what the mosque needs and is just not the best use of money.”
Khan’s mosque had been advised by experts to install a security measure — which Hyphen has chosen not to identify for safety reasons — but it was not listed as one of the options under the scheme.
“That is the reason we want devolved funding with bespoke solutions,” Khan said.
He, along with other representatives from the Muslim community, attended a roundtable discussion at Downing Street on 9 June to discuss anti-Muslim hostility and community cohesion. He was able to share his concerns about the security funding with representatives from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and felt the discussion had been “constructive”.
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“But discussions alone are not enough,” he said. “They have to be followed through with actions. The anti-Muslim hostility definition by itself will not reap any rewards if it is not backed by money, campaigns, education.”
Khan is hopeful that the change of leadership in the Labour Party will lead to positive developments in his quest for devolved security funding. He feels that Burnham, if chosen as Labour leader as is widely expected, would be enthusiastic about devolving the funding having initially lobbied for it while at GMCA. Burnham quit the GMCA on Monday to take up his seat in parliament after winning last week’s Makerfield byelection.
“But currently,” he said, “we are still waiting — and it’s one incident after another, Edinburgh or elsewhere. You barely get your head around one incident and another happens. Unfortunately, we are living through scary times.”
The Home Office and the GMCA declined to comment on the progress of the discussions.
