Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address religious extremism in faith schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children must be safe wherever they are educated, and the department is committed to ensuring that children are safe from extremism and radicalisation.
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced a statutory duty for education providers to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The full act is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/6/contents. Faith schools are subject to the same duty and responsibilities as non-faith schools. To comply with the 'Prevent duty', providers must demonstrate that they have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation.
In addition, every school, including faith schools, should actively promote the ‘fundamental British values’ (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Promoting these values is a way of building pupils’ resilience to radicalisation and enabling them to identify and challenge extremist views.
The department has taken a number of steps to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools across the country, including:
The department keeps its work under regular review to ensure we continue to provide effective support to the sector. This includes implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent, which was published on the 8 February 2023. As part of this response, the government published updated statutory guidance for the Prevent duty in September 2023, providing further clarity and good practice for the education sector. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further plans they have to stop radicalisation within faith schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children must be safe wherever they are educated, and the department is committed to ensuring that children are safe from extremism and radicalisation.
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced a statutory duty for education providers to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The full act is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/6/contents. Faith schools are subject to the same duty and responsibilities as non-faith schools. To comply with the 'Prevent duty', providers must demonstrate that they have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation.
In addition, every school, including faith schools, should actively promote the ‘fundamental British values’ (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Promoting these values is a way of building pupils’ resilience to radicalisation and enabling them to identify and challenge extremist views.
The department has taken a number of steps to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools across the country, including:
The department keeps its work under regular review to ensure we continue to provide effective support to the sector. This includes implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent, which was published on the 8 February 2023. As part of this response, the government published updated statutory guidance for the Prevent duty in September 2023, providing further clarity and good practice for the education sector. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to use the remaining funds allocated to support businesses at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown to support businesses that are facing second or local lockdowns.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has always been clear that underspend from the initial grants schemes for businesses could not be used for other purposes.
Once all?grant monies have been paid out,?local authorities?will need to?carry out a reconciliation exercise?with Government to ensure that they receive the correct amount of funding to meet the cost of grant payments to eligible businesses.
Ministers will continue to consider the need for further responses to second or local lockdowns, recognising that significant support has already been provided to businesses through grants, loans and easements.