Oral Answers to Questions

Aaron Bell Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

The hon. Member is absolutely right: antisemitism has no place in education. It was an honour to join the Secretary of State’s visit to Menorah High School last week, together with the whole ministerial team, standing in solidarity with that school and with the Jewish community. We have written to all schools and colleges urging a swift response to hate-related incidents and active reassurance for their students and staff, and we continue to work with faith leaders, schools and Ofsted to monitor the response to those concerns.

[Aaron Bell (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Con)]

T9. Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), since Hamas’s attack, Jewish students on campus report that they have had a year’s worth of antisemitic incidents in only two weeks. Some have been targeted, the attack itself was celebrated, and some have received death threats. As such, does the Minister agree that universities should work with the Union of Jewish Students to publicise the welfare hotline that it has established; avail themselves of the training that the UJS offers; and work to implement the recommendations of the recent report of the taskforce on antisemitism in higher education?

[Robert Halfon]

I have made it clear that we will not tolerate antisemitism on campus. We are working closely with the Union of Jewish Students and the higher education Jewish chaplaincy service, as well as the Community Security Trust. I welcome the taskforce’s report and its recommendations, and we absolutely urge universities to prioritise the implementation of that report.