Tough questions are being raised over the implications over the British government’s plans to further increase and promote the role of faith groups in the management of offenders, both in prisons and in the community.

The independent charity regulator, the Charity Commission, yesterday launched a dedicated unit to watch over faith-based charities. The moves comes as questions are increasingly asked about the political activities of some religious groups

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society (NSS), has claimed that Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, is making false claims about the impact of the government's refusal to exempt the Church from anti-discrimination legislation.