Iran: Demonstrations

Lord Polak Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my local bishop, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, for obtaining this important debate. I wish the new Minister well on his debut.

It is often said that fact is stranger than fiction. To follow the right reverend Prelate’s words, it is hard to believe that on 25 March 2022 Iran began a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women, the UN’s top women’s rights body. I want to go one stage further than the right reverend Prelate. Commending the women for their bravery and courage is absolutely right, but it is just words. Talk is not enough, so let us act—and I think we can act. Can the Minister advise me on whether the UK can take a lead at the UN and ensure that Iran is immediately suspended and removed as a member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women? It is impossible to understand how it can be on it. I urge the Minister to take that to the department. Let us lead—and this we can do.

In this Chamber, I have been consistently critical of the Iranian regime and have called for the proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps several times. The US State Department designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation in April 2019, adding it to a list of 67 other terrorist organisations, including Hezbollah and Hamas, both of which the UK has recently proscribed. This past July, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the other place named Hossein Taeb, a former head of intelligence in the IRGC, as part of a group of 10 Iranians who played a large role in the arrest and intimidation of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Despite this, the IRGC as an entity has been not been proscribed and Taeb has not been designated under our Magnitsky sanctions.

Furthermore, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has accused Iran of supplying Russia with weapons to help Putin’s illegal war effort against Ukraine. US reports have suggested that Iranian trainers from the IRGC have been deployed to a base in Crimea to teach Russian personnel how to operate the systems.

Last week, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced a package of sanctions in retaliation for human rights sanctions that our Government imposed on Iran on 10 October. The Iranians singled out nine individuals in the UK who have been blacklisted—including myself. What an honour: banned from a country that attacks its own people, beating women and children because they dare to protest against backwards and oppressive laws. This is a country where peaceful protesters are dragged and beaten to death; a country that shuts down its own internet so the rest of the world cannot bear witness to the murderous brutality of the IRGC, while providing weapons and training to support Putin’s criminal acts in Ukraine. To be banned from such a country for standing up against its leadership, terrorist actions and treatment of its own people is indeed an honour.

I will continue to speak out against the Iranian regime and specifically its terrorist arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for their inhumane activity on the ground in Iran and their acts of terror internationally. I urge my new noble friend the Minister to persuade those who are shamefully blocking the proscription of the IRGC to take immediate action and designate them to proscribe the murderous Iranian revolutionary guard.

Sports Participation in Schools

Lord Polak Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Polak (Con)]

Speedy access to a defibrillator saves lives. A decade ago, the budding sportsman Oliver King, aged 12, suffered a cardiac arrest during a swimming lesson and, sadly, passed away. It happened at my old school, King David High School in Liverpool, in the pool where I learned to swim. Oliver’s dad, Mark King, has campaigned for 10 years, via the Oliver King Foundation, for defibrillators to be in all schools. I attended a meeting a few days ago with the Secretary of State, along with Mark and the charitable and legendary former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher. Surely legislation is not needed. Can my noble friend the Minister assure me that defibrillators will be placed in all schools urgently?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am moved to hear of my noble friend’s experience. I think that those of us who watched the Euros were aghast at the events there, which showed us that the speed with which Christian Eriksen was resuscitated is vital in such circumstances. I can assure my noble friend that all new free schools and refurbished schools—the 100 schools we have announced—will have AEDs as standard, and we encourage all schools to have them as part of their first aid equipment. In health education at secondary school, students are taught how to use that equipment, as well as how to perform CPR.

Covid-19: Pupil Referral Units

Lord Polak Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as mainstream state-funded provision, the staff costs are still paid regardless of attendance. The initial feedback is that the £7.1 million in transition funding, which enabled the staff to ensure that AP ends at 16 and there is a successful transition into post-16, was successful. We are looking at whether that can be extended for a further year.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, Stephen Lawrence’s memory should be for a blessing. I commend JW3’s Gateways programme, which provides integrated education and vocational provision for vulnerable young people and those experiencing mental health challenges within the Jewish community. Additionally, the trustees of JW3 should be congratulated, since they are in the process of establishing the first PRU in the Jewish community after consulting a wide range of Jewish schools in north-west London that are desperate for such a PRU to exist. Can the Minister consider how the department could assist the trustees to ensure that the new PRU becomes a centre of excellence?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is pleasing to hear of that kind of community response to these issues. Noble Lords may remember that there are, of course, non-maintained special schools, which apparently include some alternative provision. Many of those that remain are Jewish or Catholic in their religious ethos, but it is open to any community to open a registered provider within the independent sector. I will be pleased to write to my noble friend to outline how that might be possible within the state-funded alternative provision sector.

Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021

Lord Polak Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Polak (Con)]

First, I congratulate the Government on making a clear Statement about public exams in good time. We all agree that school is the best place for children. Having watched the development of my five year-old granddaughter Sienna over the past year of lockdown, it is clear she needs to be in school. My son and daughter-in-law are equally clear that she needs to be in school. Does the Minister agree there is no quick fix, especially for reception children, and that help will be needed over a period of time?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for highlighting the situation for early years provision, which has remained open during this time, because that kind of education is difficult, if not impossible, to deliver remotely. This is precisely the reason that catch-up will be for the lifetime of this Parliament. The £700 million is the tranche for this academic year. Sir Kevan Collins, whom I am grateful the noble Lord, Lord Storey, mentioned, will be advising us over the lifetime of the Parliament. We are investing £18 million this year on reception and early years to help those children catch up.

Education: The Holocaust

Lord Polak Excerpts

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is always good to hear of the valuable work that the HET is doing. That is why the Government give nearly £2.2 million a year to enable such visits by students. I am grateful for the invitation. I will take it up remotely because I believe that during the pandemic the HET has been very successful in moving trips online. I thank the noble Lord for his invitation, which I will duly consider.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

I thank my noble friend Lord Holmes for asking this Question on Holocaust Memorial Day. I praise Her Majesty’s Government and the department for their support for Holocaust education, but this Holocaust Memorial Day is different from any other Holocaust Memorial Day. The newly formed interfaith group Sharaka, or “partnership”, was set up last year in the wake of the historic Abraham Accords. Young leaders from Bahrain, the UAE and Israel have just committed themselves to a five-point action plan to include promoting Holocaust awareness, combating online anti-Semitism and countering anti-Semitic delegitimisation of Israel. Does the Minister agree that the promotion of Holocaust education in the Gulf region is a most welcome difference in this year’s observance of Holocaust Memorial Day? Would she be prepared to share good practice and education materials with Sharaka, a great organisation of forward-thinking young people?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the extension of that education to the countries that my noble friend outlined. I will write to the CPD element of the University College London project that we also fund to make sure it is aware of it so that teaching staff can also be made aware of these resources that will help them teach that curriculum well.

Exams and Accountability in 2021

Lord Polak Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the Statement from my right honourable friend the Secretary of State addressed the fact that similar concessions are being made for vocational and technical qualifications. As the noble Baroness is aware, those assessments are made much more regularly throughout the year—I think that the next ones will be in January. Therefore, concessions will be made. Flexibility has been introduced into assessments during the pandemic, one change being a reduction in the number of assessment units. We are acutely aware of the need to maintain parity and we recognise the lack of education due to the pandemic, which has affected those studying BTEC and other qualifications. I repeat that we pay tribute to all that teachers have been doing, but the more objective way to assess pupils’ performance is through exams.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Storey: teachers and support staff should be thanked for their professionalism and for the care they have shown in these challenging times. The Civil Service—the members of staff in the department—have also been working particularly hard in difficult times and they too should be commended. I also agree with the Minister that examinations are by far the best way of measuring progress, as I think is universally agreed. But this year students of all ages have faced unprecedented disruption to their studies as a result of the pandemic, and those due to sit some of the most important exams of their lives have perhaps felt the disruption most acutely. Therefore, can the Minister reassure me that the measures the department is taking will ensure that those students are all treated fairly and in the best way possible?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I want to thank my noble friend. As a Minister, it is not necessarily always on the tip of my tongue to thank Civil Service staff for what they do. However, I have seen first-hand that they have been working extremely hard, along with schools, to support the sector. As my noble friend outlines, those transition points are very important, and the exams are a key objective marker, particularly for further and higher education institutions. We are not asserting that this package of measures can ameliorate every effect of what has happened; we are living through a global pandemic. However, after careful consultation, we believe this package can, as far as possible, create a situation where exams can take place, allowing pupils who have been working hard throughout the school year to have their abilities and knowledge assessed in that way.

Covid-19: Pre-school Sector

Lord Polak Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the Government’s guidance on the reopening of schools specifically refers to the fact that using outdoor space, where possible and depending on the weather, is to be encouraged. We leave equipping children for the proper use of outdoor space to schools.

[Lord Polak (Con) [V]]

My Lords, one of my granddaughters, Carla, attended her nursery, Little Bicks in Mill Hill, this morning for the first time in three months. I pay tribute to the staff and management who have provided online activities throughout—my thanks especially for the very enjoyable weekly Zoom singalong with grandparents. Like so many, these important businesses have it very tough. Can my noble friend confirm that private childcare settings are eligible for a business rate holiday of one year, giving them much-needed support at this time?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, I can confirm that if you are an early years foundation stage provider registered with Ofsted and qualify for the small business rate relief or, in appropriate circumstances, the rural rate relief, that enables you to access the £10,000 small business grant. Since last month we have been obtaining up-to-date statistics from local authorities to make sure that we have appropriate information about the resilience of this sector.

Covid-19: Schools

Lord Polak Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, in the specific provision for disadvantaged children, one of the main initiatives has been to increase the number of devices, so that they can access online learning. The criteria for distributing the 200,000 laptops and tablets purchased include whether they are care leavers, children in contact with a social worker or disadvantaged students currently in year 10.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, so many individuals in the department and within schools are working positively and enthusiastically to ensure that children will be not only safe but educated. Sometimes, I wish the teaching unions would be as positive and enthusiastic. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm that the department has worked closely with the sector, including the unions, throughout the period of partial closures and during preparations for wider opening?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, I join the noble Lord in paying tribute to all the teachers and support staff who have, during this period, kept most of our schools open for vulnerable children and the children of critical care workers. The department has indeed, at both ministerial and official levels, been consulting and engaging with the unions, mostly on a daily basis, to ensure that their views are put forward in the difficult decisions that we have to make about reopening schools.

Schools: Relationships and Sex Education

Lord Polak Excerpts

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the school support package that we will issue will enable schools and give them examples of best practice in order to consult parents. We have specifically produced leaflets so that they have the confidence to distribute that resource. In terms of the operational decisions in relation to the curriculum, I will update the House when there is any further information

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, I commend the department on producing sensitive and helpful guidance. The guidance makes it clear that from September, schools, in consultation with parents, will determine what is age-appropriate. Thus teaching explicitly about LGBT+ matters is not mandatory for primary schools. But current Ofsted guidance and the practice of inspectors does not reflect that. Numerous primary schools have been downgraded in at least one category for not teaching LGBT. Will my noble friend confirm that Ofsted will inspect in line with DfE policy and not its own self-generated policies, and that primary schools will not be penalised if they do not teach LGBT, according to the wishes of the parents of a particular school?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, Ofsted has welcomed the department’s guidance on RSHE and, when it is implemented in the next academic year, Ofsted will use it as a guide for assessing part of the personal development section of inspection. As my noble friend outlined, the guidance is clear that secondary schools should include LGBT content but,

“primary schools are strongly encouraged and enabled”,

when teaching about different types of relationships within families, to include families of same-sex parents. That is clearly a move from mandatory to permissive language. Obviously, the Equality Act is also enforced in schools and schools are required to take into account the other protected characteristics, including of course the religious background of students in the school.