Parliamentary Questions About Controversial British Buddhist Organizations

In the late 90s and early 2000s, a number of questions were raised in the English House of Commons about four controversial British Buddhist bodies: the New Kadampa Tradition, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, Soka Gakkai International and the UK Network of Buddhist Organisations; the first three of these, the NKT, FWBO and SGI UK were, at the time recognized as Britains wealthiest, most prominent Buddhist organizations.The questions and their responses are recorded here for the sake of the record

Parliamentary Questions: 45434, 85303, 85934, 86280, 88724,  91730, 101097, 131278, 147208, 147209, 152364, 152368. 156701, 157746, 157747

The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, New Kadarnpa Tradition and Soka Gakkai International.

PQ 45434 Mr Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, what representations he has received concerning the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order and their educational material; and if he will assess the authenticity of the material on their website and its coverage of Buddhist traditions with a view to advising local authorities on the suitability of the material for schools.

PQ147208,147209

 Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether her Department has had discussions with the Community Development Foundation on the appropriateness of religious groups receiving grants from the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund where allegations of cultish behaviour have been made against them; [147208] And what representations her Department has received on cultish behaviour in the (a) Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b) New Kadampa Tradition and (c) Soka Gakkai International. 

Mr. Dhanda: The Department has received correspondence from a member of the public regarding the alleged cultish behaviour of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, New Kadarnpa Tradition and Soka Gakkai International. No other representation has been received by the Department. Communities and Local Government has commissioned the Community Development Foundation to administer the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund. Officials made the Community Development Foundation aware of the existence of the allegations. The Department  considered whether these allegations had any relevance when set against the Fund's stringent criteria and guidelines. The decision was made that the criteria were satisfied and the award of funding was made.

PQ 152364

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and  Families what guidance he has issued to schools on dealings with  organisations which have been the subject of allegations of cultish behaviour, with particular regards to (a) Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b) New Kadampa Tradition and (c) Soka Gakkai International; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: The Department has issued no such guidance. Religious education syllabuses for maintained schools without a religious designation are drawn up by an agreed syllabus conference which  advises the local education authority. The non-statutory framework for Religious education was published in October 2004 and provides that pupils should be taught about Christianity, at least one other principle religion and a religious community with a significant local presence. It is up to schools and local authorities to decide upon resources and teaching methods and this would include checking the credentials of any organisation they chose to work with. (In fact, no such legislation exists; vetting procedures apply only to individuals and not organizations and there is no statutory requirement for local authorities to check organization's credentials)

PQ 152368

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his policy is on the offering of grants to organisations against which there have been allegations of cultish behaviour to support their activities in schools. with particular regards to (a) Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b) new Kadampa Tradition and (c) Soka Gakkai International; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department has offered no grants to: (a) Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b) new Kadampa Tradition and (c) Soka Gakkai International.  All Government Departments follow stringent procedures, seek appropriate references and use independent assessors to examine the constitutions and financial records/accounts of all organisations before they make any recommendations for funding.(While 'the Department' had offered no such grants, other Government departments had, despite warnings about the allegations and the fact that the groups concerned were the nations wealthiest and certainly did not need to rely on charitable handouts, as do many of the Uks somewhat impovrished Buddhist organizations)

PQ 156701

Mr. Leech:To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations the Government has received on the activities of(a) The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b) The New Kadampa Tradition and (c) Soka Gakkai International; and when such representations were received.

Mr Dhanda:Communities and Local Government has received correspondence from a member of the public regarding the alleged cultish behaviour of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order,New Kadampa Tradition and Soka Gakkai International, and the recommendation of funding to these organisations under Round 2 of the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund. This representation was

received on 1 May 2007. As far as we are aware, no other representation has been received.

PQ 157746

Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 75W, on the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund, what investigations took place into the allegations made against the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, the New Kadampa Tradition and Soka Gakkai International before her Department took the final decision to grant funds to the three organisations from the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund.

Mr. Dhanda: I refer to the earlier answer (that being that Government itself made no investigations)

PQ 157747

Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations her Department has received on cultish behaviour in the (a) Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, (b)New Kadampa Tradition and  (c) Soka Gakkai International.

Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the earlier answer

The Network of Buddhist Organisations 

The Network of Buddhist Organisations took shape as a result of meetings convened by the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London in 1993 for the purpose of inviting the Dalai Lama to visit the UK. After the Dalai Lama's visit, the interest of many of the members diminished. Many that is. apart from Soka Gakkai UK and the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.

Realising the value of the NBO corporate label, representatives of the two quickly manoeuvred themselves into dominant positions on the NBO's controlling body. The NBO label was a very convenient way of maintaining status in the UK Buddhist arena despite criticism of both groups, nationally and internationally, both among Buddhists and in the media.In short, the NBO name became a flag of convenience beneath which both could hide.

In mid 2006 an internet campaign alleged that the NBO was a "self appointed" organization with no official representative status, and that it was "dominated" by three controversial New Religious Movements, Soka Gakkai International, the FWBO and the New Kadampa Tradition, each of which was employing the NBO as a 'flag of of convenience' after significant criticism of each in the public domain. The long standing chair of the NBO for example, was the leading figure in Soka Gakkai UK. Its educational advisory group was run by a member of the FWBO, an organization with a history of widespread sexual abuse spanning three decades and NKT representatives had been very active in the NBO's chaplaincy work, despite one of thier central practices being what the Dalai Lama called "the worship of a spirt of the dark forces".

 The campaign further alleged that, while the NBO presented "itself as the representative voice of Buddhism in the UK", it had "almost no ethnic Asian Buddhist members", the NBO Development worker's blog speaking for instance of, " ...the many (UK) Buddhist groups of Asian origin...not...well represented on...forums such as the NBO".

This led to the following Parliamentary Questions being raised, first about the NBO itself and whether the UK Government had done anything to assess its representative status and further,as seen above, over the appropriateness of Government granting funds to the three New Religious Movements or "groups against which there had been listed, particularly in light of allegations of 'cultic behaviour', somewhat astoundingly, to support their work with children in schools.

"The 4th monkey, 'Admit No Evil', was absent due to Parliamentary responsibilities"

It emerged in response to these questions that no government department had made any attempt whatsoever to assess the NBOs representative status or investigated any of the allegations against the three groups. The Government further indicated that, regardless of allegations of cultic behaviour, the organization's listed fulfilled their funding criteria (amongst which, surprisingly, was not "Is the group widely recognized as a cult?") and grants would therefore stand. Moreover, it claimed that the responsibility for vetting such organizations before allowing them access to minors lay with Schools and Local Authorities, despite the fact that no such explicit government directive exists, vetting schemes only applying to individuals rather than conglomerates.

The NBO issued a response vehemently denying that there was any truth behind the allegations, both those concerning its representative status and those which alleged cultic behaviour against its three prominent members. Their response listed some but not all of the 15 Parliamentary Questions raised concerning themselves and their members; in particular, several questions concerning cultic behaviour were omitted.

PQ 85303

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his Department's list of organisations consulted on religious issues, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Network of Buddhist Organisations is representative of that faith's adherents; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office has made no such assessment. The Network of Buddhist Organisations is one of the Buddhist organisations that the Home Office consults with.

PQ 85934

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her Department's list of organisations consulted on religious issues affecting matters concerning her Department, what assessment she has made of the extent to which the Network of Buddhist Organisations is representative of that faith's adherents; and if she will make a statement.

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has made no such assessment. The Network of Buddhist Organisations is one of a range of faith organisations that the Department consults with on relevant issues. For example, the Network of Buddhist Organisations is a member of independently formed multi-faith group which the Department maintains close contact with as part of our commitment to a multi-faith approach to NHS Chaplaincy.

PQ 86280

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his Department's list of organisations consulted on religious issues affecting matters concerning his Department, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Network of Buddhist Organisations is representative of that faith's adherents; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The DfES has made no such assessment. The Network of Buddhist Organisations is one of the organisations that the Department consults on relevant issues.

PQ 88724

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2006, on Buddhism, what factors were taken into account in including the Network of Buddhist Organisations on his list of consultees; what other Buddhist organisations are included on the list; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department will always seek to consult as widely as is reasonably practicable. Factors taken into account include the nature, scale and subject of the consultation. The Network of Buddhist Organisations has 27 member organisations and 25 associate member organisations, from a range of Buddhist traditions, and is one of the groups with which the Department has consulted on relevant issues. The Department has previously consulted the Clear Vision Trust, The Buddhist Society (both of these were NBO members) and individual Buddhists.

PQ 101097

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Department’s list of organisations consulted on religious issues, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Network of Buddhist Organisations is representative of that faith's adherents; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office has made no such assessment. The Network of Buddhist Organisations is just one of the Buddhist organisations that the Home Office consults with.

PQ 88724

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2006, Official Report, column 308W, on Buddhism, what factors were taken into account in including the Network of Buddhist Organisations on his list of consultees; what other Buddhist organisations are included on the list; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department will always seek to consult as widely as is reasonably practicable. Factors taken into account include the nature, scale and subject of the consultation. The Network of Buddhist Organisations has 27 member organisations and 25 associate member organisations, from a range of Buddhist traditions, and is one of the groups with which the Department has consulted on relevant issues. The Department has previously consulted the Clear Vision Trust, The Buddhist Society (both NBO members at the time) and individual Buddhists.

PQ 91730

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 9 August 2006 to Question 85303, which other Buddhist organisations his Department consults.

Mr. Byrne: The list of contacts the department has for Buddhist groups includes The Buddhist Society and the London Buddhist Vihara as well as the Network of Buddhist Organisations. We do not hold records when or how often organisations are consulted.

PQ 101097

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Department’s list of organisations consulted on religious issues, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Network of Buddhist Organisations is representative of that faith's adherents; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office has made no such assessment. The Network of Buddhist Organisations is just one of the Buddhist organisations that the Home Office consults with.

PQ 131278

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what investigations take place into applicants for grants from the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund (FCCBF) on (a) the extent of their representativeness amongst that religion’s followers and (b) the ability of groups to finance schemes without FCCBF grants (the three leading NBO groups were Britains richest organizations)

Mr. Woolas: Applications for funding from the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund (FCCBF)are administered by the Community Development Foundation on behalf of Communities and Local Government and are considered against a range of criteria, based on assessment of supporting information provided. The consideration process does not consider the extent of applicants’ representativeness among a religion’s followers, but where relevant the Community Development Foundation will take care to ensure an organisation does reach the communities they claim to.