Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what her Department’s policy is for (a) describing and (b) communicating incidences of racism targeting expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
This Government remains committed to stamping out anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of religious prejudice. It is unacceptable for anyone to feel unsafe while practicing their religion and we continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Muslim hatred. The adoption of a definition of Islamophobia by the Government remains under consideration.
In 2020-21 DLUHC provided £1.8million in funding for the Faith, Race and Hate Crime Grant Scheme which supported established community groups and civil society organisations to run short projects that champion the Government's commitment to building a diverse and tolerant society for all faiths and races.
The Government’s new Hate Crime Strategy will be published shortly and will build on the successes of the previous Action Plan in tackling all forms of hate crime.
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce inequalities in healthcare and (b) prevent the avoidable death of Asian and Asian British babies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) sets out a systematic approach to reducing health inequalities and addressing unwarranted variation in care by targeting a higher share of funding towards geographies with high health inequalities than would have been allocated using solely the core needs formulae. As a condition of receiving Long Term Plan funding, all major national programmes and every local area across England is required to set out specific measurable goals and mechanisms by which they will contribute to narrowing health inequalities by 2029.
On 1 October, we launched the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Reducing health disparities is one of the core aims of the office and it will set out its plans for delivering on this objective in due course
To improve equity for mothers and babies from Black, Asian and Mixed ethnic groups, NHS England and NHS Improvement published ‘Equity and Equality: Guidance for Local Maternity Systems’ on 6 September, which can be found at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/equity-and-equality-guidance-for-local-maternity-systems/
This guidance asks Local Maternity Systems (LMS) to produce an equity and equality analysis (covering health outcomes, community assets and staff experience) by 30 November 2021; and to co-produce an action plan to improve equity for mothers and babies from minority ethnic and other backgrounds, and race equality for NHS maternity staff by 28 February 2022. The guidance is supported by a £6.8 million investment.
LMS are being asked to include four interventions to prevent avoidable deaths of babies in their action plans: (1) targeted and enhanced continuity of carer with 75% of women from Black, Asian and Mixed ethic groups receiving continuity of carer by 2024 and additional midwifery time to support women from the most deprived areas, (2) smoke-free pregnancy pathways for mothers and their partners, (3) breastfeeding strategies to improve breastfeeding rates for women living in the most deprived areas, and (4) culturally-sensitive genetics services for consanguineous couples. The guidance is supported by a £6.8 million investment, which will support Local Maternity Systems to implement Equity and Equality Action Plans and implement targeted and enhanced Continuity of Carer.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recommendation of the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries report, published in January 2021, what steps he has taken to help identify and meet the specific needs of Black and Asian populations in the context of reproductive and pregnancy healthcare provision.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In summer 2021, the Department commissioned the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to carry out a pilot survey of women’s reproductive health experiences in England. The sampling strategy included working with advocacy organisations to try to maximise participation from women from ethnic minority groups, including black and Asian women. Data from the survey will contribute to evidence around the specific needs of black and Asian populations in reproductive healthcare provision.
The Department is developing a new Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, which will be published early next year. The Strategy will include an overarching focus on identifying and addressing health inequalities, including those faced by black and Asian populations, in relation to sexual and reproductive healthcare.
On 6 September, NHS England and NHS Improvement published ‘Equity and Equality: Guidance for Local Maternity Systems’. Local Maternity Systems are asked to undertake interventions to understand the specific needs of black and Asian populations through the local population’s maternal and perinatal health needs; map community assets which help address the social determinants of health; conduct a baseline assessment of the experience of maternity and neonatal staff by Workforce Race Equity Standard indicators; and plan to co-produce interventions to improve equity for mothers, babies and race equality for staff.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Myanmar to promote a right to citizenship in Myanmar for (1) Rohingya Muslims, and (2) other religious minorities in Myanmar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has had no high level engagement with the military regime in Myanmar since the 1 February coup. Nevertheless, we have publicly called for the removal of restrictions that withhold citizenship from individuals who are not from a community recognised by the Myanmar authorities as a 'national race', such as the Rohingya, including through the UN Human Rights Council. The UK has supported the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission's to reform the 1982 Citizenship Law and is clear that Myanmar must fully implement them. Minister Adams raised Myanmar's discriminatory citizenship laws with his counterpart in the civilian National League for Democracy (NLD) government last year.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Recruitment diversity statistics June 21, published on 19 August 2021, what steps he is taking to reduce disparities in the Relative Rate Index between (a) candidates from BAME backgrounds and white candidates, (b) disabled candidates and non-disabled candidates and (c) female candidates and male candidates.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
HMPPS is targeting prisons where there is disparity between the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic workforce population and the local working population through using an enhanced recruitment approach to help increase representation. This includes community engagement to boost knowledge of careers within HMPPS, delivering recruitment attraction events through digital platforms and allocating a “buddy” for candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds to support them through the recruitment process. Additionally, the HMPPS Race Action Programme (RAP) will build on the ambitions of Lammy recommendations 28 and 29 and enhance regional recruitment activity by engaging third sector ethnic minority organisations and supporting community outreach.
We are working to understand why more male applicants are successful in the prison officer role compared with their application numbers, including considering factors such as length of the recruitment and onboarding process, degree of training and fitness commitment, availability of flexible working options and routes back for those coming back to work after raising a family. Female applicants are more likely to be successful at Operational Support Grade, however we have established an internal conversion route to support employees into the role of a prison officer.
The MoJ is signed up to Level 3: Disability Confident Leader and are therefore committed to having inclusive and accessible recruitment for candidates with disabilities. We are doing more to ensure we are removing barriers by offering and implementing reasonable adjustments to allow disabled applicants to be considered for a job on an equal basis with non-disabled applicants. This includes giving the applicant the ability to provide more detail on their reasonable adjustments at application stage, greater engagement with external disability stakeholders and specific guidance for vacancy managers when undertaking recruitment campaigns.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to renew its strategy on hinduphobia; and which stakeholders the Government plans to engage as part of that process.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Hate Crime action plan (2016) and the Hate Crime action plan Refresh (2018) set out the Government's plans to tackle hatred directed at anyone for their race, sexuality, disability, gender identity or religion, including that of the Hindu community.
The Government is now considering a range of options to tackle hate crime beyond the 2018 plan. We will work with other departments and civil society partners to explore possible approaches, and to ensure a range of views from communities are taken into consideration.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to support cities establish anti-racism charters.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is clear that no one in this country should have to endure racism and we are committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist.
The Government welcomes community-led action which tackles racism. It is for local leaders, including local authorities and other local partners, to decide how best to take this forward in their communities.
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was appointed by the Prime Minister to conduct a detailed, data-led examination of inequality across the entire population, and to set out a positive agenda for change.
The Commission reported at the end of the March and the Government will respond to this in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of participation in training sessions based on Critical Race Theory on local authority employees.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
In the Written Ministerial Statement of 15 December 2020, HCWS652, the Government outlined how unconscious bias training fails to deliver value for taxpayers' money and is ineffective. We indicated that it will be phased out in the Civil Service, and encourage the wider public sector to do the same.
Similar principles can be applied to "critical race theory" training, which is a controversial political ideology. Councils should be seeking to keep council tax down, and focus resources to supporting frontline services and covid recovery.
Moreover, the application of critical race theory to municipal public services threatens to undermine integration and community cohesion, by exaggerating differences within local communities; instead, councils should be seeking to build and strengthen a shared local and national identity across class, colour and creed.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to tackle Hinduphobia in the UK.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is committed to tackling hatred against people of all faiths, including the Hindu community. The Hate Crime Action Plan (2016) and Refresh (2018) set out our plans to tackle hatred directed at anyone for their race, religion, sexuality, disability or gender identity, which includes raising awareness of hate crime and encouraging reporting. We are now looking at ways to renew our strategy and will be engaging with a wide range of stakeholders from religious communities.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve community engagement with Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to help tackle inequalities in mental health services.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
As outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24, all local health systems are expected to set out how they will address inequalities in access and outcomes for groups with protected characteristics, including ethnicity by 2023/24. To support this, NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned the Advancing Mental Health Equality resource for local commissioners and providers to identify and address inequalities in mental health care. This guide is available at the following link:
www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/nccmh/amhe/amhe-resource.pdf
As part of our proposals on reforms to the Mental Health Act 1983 we have committed to introducing a new Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework. This will support National Health Service mental healthcare providers and local authorities to work with their local communities to improve the ways in which patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds access, engage with and experience mental healthcare.