Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the tools available to verify election-related content.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We have a tradition of robust political debate and freedom of speech in our democracy. Policy or political arguments - both online and offline - which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or the press as part of the normal course of political debate should not be regulated. It is a matter for voters to decide whether they consider such arguments/claims to be accurate.
The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, by requiring those promoting eligible digital campaigning material targeted at the UK electorate to include an imprint with their name and address.
We are working to ensure we are ready to respond to the full range of threats to our democratic processes, including through the Defending Democracy Taskforce, and the Government regularly meets with social media companies to understand the policies and processes they have in place.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of universities accepting funding from entities linked to the Chinese People's Liberation Army on academic freedom.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Integrated Review Refresh, which this government published in March 2023, sets out in clear terms the UK’s policy towards engagement with China and Chinese entities.
Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous institutions and are responsible for ensuring they have adequate governance, risk management procedures and policies in place, including on the acceptance of donations. HE providers will also have their own due diligence procedures which should consider reputational, ethical and security risks.
The department expects the HE sector to be alert to risks when collaborating with any international partners. Guidance published by Universities UK advises HE providers how to engage in international collaborations safely and securely. This guidance also includes a recommendation that due diligence should be conducted on all international partnerships and it is available here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/managing-risks-internationalisation.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will ensure that HE providers in England have the tools they need to deal with interference with, and threats to, freedom of speech and academic freedom wherever they originate. The Act will enable the Office for Students to monitor the overseas funding of registered HE providers and their constituent institutions and student’s unions, and to take appropriate action. Provisions in the Act dealing with overseas funding are expected to come into force from 1 September 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what (a) information his Department holds on and (b) steps his Department is taking to help tackle the (i) abduction and (ii) forced conversion of Christian girls and women in Pakistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Protecting women's rights is central to the UK Government's human rights engagement in Pakistan. The UK funded Accountability, Inclusion and Modern Slavery programme works to address gender-based violence by raising awareness of early and forced marriages. Our online hate speech programme is helping to make digital spaces safer for women. The UK will continue to support civil society and NGOs in lobbying the Government of Pakistan to honour its international commitments on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and women's rights.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in light of a recent reported incident in London, whether he has issued recent guidance to the police on the rights of people to sing religious songs in a public setting.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to religious freedom and free speech, and singing religious songs outside a church is not in itself prohibited.
The police are operationally independent and there is a well established process for addressing complaints.
The Home Office will not be issuing guidance on the matter.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with the Committee for Academic Freedom on its news story entitled Nine UK universities label gender-critical academics transphobes, investigation reveals, published on 15 January 2024.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Securing academic freedom is a high priority for this government. That is why the government introduced the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.
The Act will ensure that universities in England are a place where academics, students and visiting speakers can express a diverse range of views without fear of repercussion. The main provisions of the Act will come into force on 1 August 2024.
This Act will require reasonably practicable steps to be taken to secure freedom of speech within the law. It will not change the current legal position on what speech is lawful and unlawful. The department wants academics to feel confident to express their lawful views and challenge received wisdom, even if their views are unpopular.
There are currently no plans to hold discussions with the Committee for Academic Freedom.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the statutory guidance entitled Prevent duty guidance: for higher education institutions in England and Wales (2015), updated on 31 December 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that guidance on (a) academic research, (b) the number of students applying to higher education institutions, (c) students’ experience in higher education, (d) freedom of speech and (e) people with protected characteristics.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The updated and refreshed guidance places no additional burdens on the education sector. There are no new requirements as a result of the refresh or additional responsibilities for the sector. The guidance reinforces that settings should understand their Prevent duty requirements as part of their wider safeguarding and welfare responsibilities.
The Prevent duty should not limit academic research but encourage debate, challenge ideas and advance knowledge on contentious topics. The government has legislated to ensure that universities in England are a place where academics, students and visiting speakers can express a diverse range of views without fear of repercussion.
In the most recent published assessment by the Office for Students (OfS) on the implementation of the Prevent programme in the English higher education sector in 2019, they found no cause for concern that free speech was being undermined by Prevent in external speakers’ policies and their implementation. The assessment is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/prevent-review-meetings-programme-findings/.
Institutions should encourage students to respect other people with particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010 Institutions should also be mindful of their commitments to protecting freedom of speech, provided that the speech is lawful.
A full Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken in line with responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Home Office commissioned an independent research agency to conduct in-depth research with frontline staff, particularly those with Prevent-specific responsibilities, across the key sectors of education, healthcare, local authorities, police and prisons & probation, to make sure that the new guidance is as robust as possible. This consultation covered England and Wales.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the imprisonment of Apollinaris Darmawan in Indonesia.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK government is aware of Apollinaris Darmanwan's imprisonment. The UK government is committed to upholding freedom of speech and promoting freedom of religion in Indonesia. Officials at the British Embassy in Jakarta routinely meet members of all six officially recognised faiths and discuss the importance of freedom of religious belief.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will hold discussions with employer representatives on freedom of speech in the context of the conflict in Israel-Palestine.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Minister for Women and Equalities has met with Jewish employers to discuss the impact of rising antisemitism on their staff.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report The Strategic Dependence of UK Universities on China, published by Civitas on 2 November 2023, whether her Department is taking steps to help reduce the proportion of funding universities receive from China.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Integrated Review Refresh, which this government published in March 2023, sets out in clear terms the UK’s policy towards China.
The UK is a world-leading destination for foreign students, including from China, where they add to the academic richness of UK universities. However, a key part of the International Education Strategy is diversification. Universities must ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage the risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding, whether that is from a single organisation or a single country. The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator of higher education in England, monitors the risk of over-reliance on overseas income at a sector level.
The department recognises concerns about overseas interference in the higher education sector and regularly assess the risks facing academia. The department has acted to remove government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK. The department will continue to take steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our higher education sector, helping to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will introduce increased transparency and the monitoring of certain overseas funding received by higher education providers in England. The protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK is taken very seriously. Attempts by foreign powers to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated.
The department has committed, in the Integrated Review Refresh, to review the full set of legislative and other provisions designed to protect the academic sector, in order to identify what more can be or should be done.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the implication for her policies of the proportion of funding from China for universities; and what guidance she issues to universities on sources of funding other than China.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Integrated Review Refresh, which this government published in March 2023, sets out in clear terms the UK’s policy towards China.
The UK is a world-leading destination for foreign students, including from China, where they add to the academic richness of UK universities. However, a key part of the International Education Strategy is diversification. Universities must ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage the risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding, whether that is from a single organisation or a single country. The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator of higher education in England, monitors the risk of over-reliance on overseas income at a sector level.
The department recognises concerns about overseas interference in the higher education sector and regularly assess the risks facing academia. The department has acted to remove government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK. The department will continue to take steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our higher education sector, helping to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will introduce increased transparency and the monitoring of certain overseas funding received by higher education providers in England. The protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK is taken very seriously. Attempts by foreign powers to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated.
The department has committed, in the Integrated Review Refresh, to review the full set of legislative and other provisions designed to protect the academic sector, in order to identify what more can be or should be done.