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<p>The Places of Worship Protective Security Fund (POW) is a key commit-ment in the
Hate Crime Action Plan published in 2016. The scheme has been running for three years,
and we ensure we continuously listen to feedback from faith communities on the scheme,
including the independent panel to the scheme made up of representatives across faith
groups. This feedback has resulted in improvements being made for each year of the
scheme.</p><p><br>In March the Home Secretary announced an increase in the amount
of funding for the POW scheme to £1.6m, for 2019-20. We are working urgently to make
commercial improvements to the scheme to make it easier for places of worship to apply,
reducing the administrative burden and widening the eligibility criteria.</p><p><br>More
widely, following the events in Christchurch, the Home Secretary committed to consulting
with faith communities to understand what more could and should be done to help protect
faith communities at their places of worship. We will be working with groups such
as the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, Tell Mama and those representing other faiths
as part of this consultation. This engagement with communities is starting immediately
with opportunities for wider consultation, including from people feeding in on individual
basis, following thereafter. We will be outlining how to engage on Gov.UK shortly</p>
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