Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultations were undertaken prior to the decision to move the Social Mobility Commission to the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Vicky Ford
This move aligns with a recent recommendation by the Chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, the Social Mobility Commission's (SMC) own recommendation about where it would best fit within government, and with a recommendation by the Education Select Committee in 2018.
Moving the sponsorship of the SMC to become a key part of the new Equality Hub makes good sense and puts equality and fairness of all kinds at the heart of government. The move shows how serious this government is about acting on these issues, as part of our levelling up agenda.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the business case supporting the decision to move the Social Mobility Commission to the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister. Ministers in relevant departments were consulted before the decision was made. This move aligns with a recent recommendation by the Chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities and a recommendation by the Education Select Committee in 2018.
Moving the sponsorship of the Social Mobility Commission to become a key part of the new Equality Hub makes good sense and puts equality and fairness of all kinds at the heart of government. The move shows how serious this government is about actually acting on these issues, as part of our levelling up agenda.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to issue new guidance on teaching (a) about Sikhism in secondary schools and (b) diversity and inclusion in KS2 and KS3.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not provide guidance to schools on teaching about any specific religion.
All state funded schools are required to teach religious education (RE) which must reflect that “the religious traditions in Great Britain are Christian, in the main, whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain”. For most maintained schools, in each local authority area the key document in determining the teaching of RE is the statutory locally agreed syllabus, which sets out details of what must be taught. Alternatively, academies and most schools designated as having a religious character may develop and teach their own RE syllabuses.
Schools should publish online the content of their curriculum in each academic year for every subject, including religious education.
The Department provides non-statutory guidance to schools on how the Equality Act 2010 affects them and how to fulfil their duties under the Act, including inclusion and diversity in how the curriculum is delivered. The guidance can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools.
Diversity is also being considered by the Independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities established by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, to examine inequality in the UK. In their Call for Evidence, the Commission asked for evidence to describe how the school curriculum could be adapted in response to the ethnic diversity of the country. The Commission is due to report to my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, by the end of February 2021 and the Department will carefully consider the Commission’s report when published.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many members of staff in their Department have one or more of the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT or race in their job title.
Answered by Nick Gibb
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Harborough to the answer I gave on 10 September 2020 to Question 83930.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled, Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged, published in October 2019, what progress he has made on tackling racial disparities in employment at universities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Racial harassment is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.
As independent and autonomous institutions, higher education providers are responsible for the contracts and conditions of employment that they offer to their staff. We expect universities to follow fair recruitment and employment practices in accordance with the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) to ensure that all job applicants and existing staff, regardless of race, have the opportunity to progress in their careers.
This government will continue to work closely with key partners, and the Office for Students, to drive progress on matters of racial harassment and inequality in higher education.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, ith reference to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled, Tackling racial harassment: Universities challenged, published in October 2019, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of racial harassment of staff in employment by universities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Racial harassment is unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education – for any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.
As independent and autonomous institutions, higher education providers are responsible for the contracts and conditions of employment that they offer to their staff. We expect universities to follow fair recruitment and employment practices in accordance with the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) to ensure that all job applicants and existing staff, regardless of race, have the opportunity to progress in their careers.
This government will continue to work closely with key partners, and the Office for Students, to drive progress on matters of racial harassment and inequality in higher education.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the recent Higher Education Statistics Agency statistics which suggest that gender and race inequalities are established immediately after university graduation.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is disappointing to see the disparities shown in the HESA Graduate Outcome Data publication, but it highlights why collecting this information is so important. To tackle these gaps the Government is focused on ensuring equality of opportunity exists for everyone.
To help us do this the Government has established an independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which will examine ethnic inequalities across the whole population in the UK, and report by the end of this year.
To tackle income and employment disparities we are ensuring more women are equipped to enter STEM careers, where some jobs have higher than average wages, and we are encouraging flexible working, so parents are not held back. The Government is also doubling the number of front line staff at job centres, providing an extra £32m to recruit extra careers advisers and providing £17m for work academies in England to help make sure those looking for employment are offered the support they need to fulfil their potential.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recommendations (a) the Government has adopted and (b) are outstanding from the 2017 Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled A roadmap to race equality.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The recommendations of the 2017 Equality and Human Rights Commission's report refer to action in the areas of employment, education, house, health and criminal justice. That same year the Government launched The Race Disparity Audit (RDA) to drive change by publishing authoritative data and analysis about the variances in treatment or outcome affecting people of different ethnicities in those areas and others.
Since October 2017, the Government has used RDU data and analysis to support and launch a number of initiatives including:
Department of Health and Social Care’s independent review of mental health legislation and practice to tackle the issue of mental health detention.
New powers for the Office for Students to hold Universities to account for how well their students do; and independent university league tables agreed to highlight progress made on reducing student disparities. The Sunday Times Good University Guide is now including ethnic minority attainment gaps as part of theirs.
The allocation of £90m of dormant assets to the creation of a new, independent organisation - Youth Futures Foundation (YFF). YFF aims to overcome the barriers to training and employment opportunities that young people from an ethnic minority background experience.
Established a new Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities to examine all aspects of continuing racial and ethnic inequalities in Britain. It will build on the work of the Race Disparity Unit. The Commission will carry out a deeper examination of what the causes of these disparities are, and seek to establish what works to address them effectively.
Implemented 16 recommendations from the Lammy Review, to improve the treatment and outcomes of BAME people in the criminal justice system, and have committed to enacting a further 17.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 to Questions 61818, 61819 and 61820 on Children: Ethnic Groups and with reference to his statement in that Answer that his Department does not centrally hold that information, for what reasons the information is not held centrally; and whether his Department plans to gather and hold that information in the future.
Answered by Nick Gibb
When making decisions about asking schools to welcome back more children, Ministers have had due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and to advance equality of opportunities and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not, as required by section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
We continue to keep our assessment of those matters under review. This has been an in depth and ongoing assessment of the impacts of the Government’s policy, including on groups with protected characteristics such as race. The assessments continue to form an active part of the decision-making process.
Importantly, we know that some staff, parents and pupils may be anxious about returning to school. Where individuals are concerned about their comparatively increased risk from coronavirus, due to factors including ethnicity, age, sex and comorbidities, we are asking school leaders to discuss concerns and provide reassurance of the measures they are putting in place to reduce the risk, in line with our guidance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 to Questions 61818, 61819 and 61820 on Children: Ethnic Groups and with reference to his statement in that Answer that his Department does not centrally hold that information, how his Department has assessed the effect of schools' policies on BAME people; and if he will place a copy of the methodology and conclusions of that assessment in the Library.
Answered by Nick Gibb
When making decisions about asking schools to welcome back more children, Ministers have had due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and to advance equality of opportunities and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not, as required by section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
We continue to keep our assessment of those matters under review. This has been an in depth and ongoing assessment of the impacts of the Government’s policy, including on groups with protected characteristics such as race. The assessments continue to form an active part of the decision-making process.
Importantly, we know that some staff, parents and pupils may be anxious about returning to school. Where individuals are concerned about their comparatively increased risk from coronavirus, due to factors including ethnicity, age, sex and comorbidities, we are asking school leaders to discuss concerns and provide reassurance of the measures they are putting in place to reduce the risk, in line with our guidance.