Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any representatives from Government departments have met with Hope Not Hate; if so, on what dates; and what was the content and outcome of their discussions.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Representatives from the Home Office have met with members of Hope Not Hate on a small number of occasions in the past year, as part of engagement with wider partners on asylum and migration and responding to protest activity.
The Home Office is free to decide who and which organisations it meets with as long as the organisation in question does not act unlawfully. Decisions on individual meetings are taken on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any effect on free speech of the training delivered by Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) in the workplace training of public sector bodies and charities.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Through the Government Campus Curriculum, including the learning framework contracts, the Cabinet Office enables all civil servants to develop the right skills, both to deliver the Government’s current priorities and to tackle future challenges.
Training provided by the Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) is not part of the curriculum. MEND is not a supplier on the learning framework contracts and we have no central records of MEND providing any training within the civil service. We do not monitor training provided to the wider public and charities sectors.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they learnt from the events that followed reports into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the 'Trojan Horse' letter from 2014; and what steps they are taking to prevent any risk to schools elsewhere.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is clear that there is no place for extremism in our schools, and the department is committed to ensuring that children and young people are safe from both extremism and radicalisation.
Following the recommendations contained in Peter Clarke’s report into the allegations arising from the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter, the department took strong action, including:
The department keeps its work under regular review to ensure we continue to provide effective support to the sector to prevent extremism and intolerance from gaining a foothold in our schools.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any effect arising from funding from Qatar Foundation International on the teaching of religious education and Arabic in UK schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not receive any funding from Qatar Foundation International (QFI) for curriculum programmes that support the teaching of religious education (RE) or Arabic in schools in England. Therefore, no assessment has been made on the potential effects of this.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the paper published by the Commission for Countering Extremism in October 2019 entitled Mainstream Islamism in Britain: educating for the Islamic Revival.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department acknowledges the report published by the Commission for Countering Extremism in 2019. This report raises several issues related to integration, extremism, and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).
The department is clear that education plays a vital role in promoting integration and ensuring children and young people are prepared for life in modern Britain, including through learning about the values that underpin and unite our society. All schools have specific duties to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils and to prepare them for the opportunities and responsibilities of adult life. Schools are required to promote the fundamental British values (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
The department is committed to keeping children safe from extremism and has taken strong action to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our schools across the country, including:
Since 2020, relationships and health education has been compulsory in all primary schools, and relationships, sex and health education has been compulsory in all secondary schools. The department set out the topics that schools should teach about in RSHE statutory guidance, which is clear that schools are responsible for what they teach and should ensure that all content is factual, age appropriate and politically impartial, particularly when using materials produced by external organisations. When teaching, schools should take into account the age of pupils and their religious and cultural background. The department’s statutory guidance on RSHE is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The department continues to keep this area under close review. On 8 March, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced that the department has started a review of the guidance. This will cover the full scope of the statutory guidance, and we will be working closely with our stakeholders and experts to draw on the best available evidence about high quality RSHE which meets the needs of young people.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to revise the powers given to telecommunications companies to erect phone masts in order to give greater protection to land within or adjacent to Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty which already have sufficient mobile phone signal.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to providing the necessary digital infrastructure across the UK to ensure that people and businesses have the connectivity they need, and in the years ahead. The changes we made to planning law in England in 2022 will help to extend and improve mobile coverage, including supporting our £1 billion Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme.
However, it is important that the delivery of network infrastructure is balanced with environmental considerations. Planning legislation allows for planning authorities to assess the impact of certain infrastructure, such as new masts, and decide whether it is appropriate for the proposed location. There are also greater restrictions and limitations on network development in more sensitive locations, such as National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Operators are required to minimise the visual impact of network infrastructure in these areas.
In addition to this, the Code of Practice for Wireless Network Development in England sets out how operators and planning authorities can work collaboratively to ensure that network deployment is carried out in a way that provides positive benefits to communities, whilst respecting the sensitive nature of protected areas.
The Government also supports the view that operators should use existing structures and buildings for hosting infrastructure, and share sites where possible, to reduce the environmental impact of installation. The SRN in particular is a sustainable approach to the challenge of delivering rural mobile coverage and will transform 4G coverage without duplicating infrastructure, minimising the impact on our countryside.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis the Home Secretary has associated the phenomenon of grooming gangs with ethnicity rather than with religion.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know that child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion. The vast majority of British-Pakistanis are law-abiding, upstanding citizens and the Home Secretary's comments relate to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, which described the perpetrators in those cases as overwhelmingly British-Pakistani men.
The 2020 Home Office report on Group based Child Sexual Exploitation set out the best evidence on ethnicity, age, offender networks, the context in which these crimes are committed and implications for national and local policy. As noted within the report, beyond those specific high-profile cases, the academic literature highlights significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and group-based child sexual exploitation.
It is essential for police and local authorities to have a good understanding of offender characteristics and the drivers of child sexual exploitation in their areas, so that they can uncover and tackle offending effectively. That is why the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have announced a number of steps to improve our data on, and our response to, group-based child sexual exploitation, including a new Taskforce, regional analysts in every police region, a new Complex and Organised Child Abuse Database hosted by the Taskforce and the roll out of the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme, which brings together force-level, regional, and national data and intelligence.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether (1) the National Curriculum, and (2) other guidance provided to schools, requires that copies of the Koran and the Bible should receive equal respect; and if not, what plans they have to ensure that they are treated equally.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Every school should actively promote mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Amongst other criteria, Ofsted will inspect pupils’ knowledge of, and respect for, different people's faiths, feelings, and values.
All schools must offer a broad and balanced curriculum, which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental, and physical development of pupils.
In response to recent incidents, the government has been repeatedly clear that there is no blasphemy law in Great Britain. The department has no plans to give specific guidance on the respect that should be shown to specific religious texts. However, the Home Office is drafting guidance on blasphemy incidents, which the department will support with as needed.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Callanan (HL5765 and HL3971), whether the World Climate Declaration has been taken into account in Government policy, whether in the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or otherwise.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the World Climate Declaration but uses a range of scientific evidence to inform government policy, in particular the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which is the global authority on climate science. The World Climate Declaration will not have been assessed as part of the latest IPCC report, as it was published after the literature cut-off date of October 2021, the time by which literature must have been published to be included in the assessment. In addition, the IPCC primarily assesses peer reviewed literature from scientific journals.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the spokesperson for the Department for Education on 2 March in respect of the suspension of four school children at Kettlethorpe High School for dropping a copy of the Koran that “the school followed standard disciplinary procedures in response to this incident” and that the Department “backs headteachers to take the appropriate action”, what are the standard disciplinary procedures for such an incident; whether they consider the suspension of the children in this case to be an “appropriate action”; and if not, what plans they have to withdraw that statement.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s priority remains the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. The department trusts head teachers to work with pupils, parents and, where necessary, the local community and the police to manage the responses to these incidents locally.
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour. The department trusts head teachers to develop behaviour policies which reflect their school’s individual contexts and needs. The department also supports head teachers in using suspension as a sanction when warranted as part of creating calm, safe and supportive environments where both pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.
All decisions to suspend a pupil must be lawful, proportionate, and reasonable. Within these requirements, schools need to be able to set and enforce behaviour policies that reflect their ethos and the specific challenges they face. Decisions also need to be based on the particular facts of a case. For this reason, the statutory Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance does not prescribe the behaviours that should or should not lead to a suspension.
If parents feel that disciplinary action is unreasonable, they have the right to make representations to the school’s governing board.