Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the attack outside the Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park mosque, what measures they are taking to prevent further violence in the name of religion.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Violence of any kind is abhorrent and the Government will do what is necessary to ensure the safety of its citizens and protect national security. The Government is taking action against all forms of terrorism and extremism, including the major threat from Islamist violent extremism. Our response includes the Counter Extremism strategy, the new Commission for Countering Extremism, and the hate crime action plan.
We are also reviewing our Counter Terrorism strategy to ensure we have all the powers and measures we need to keep our communities safe. In 2015, the Chancellor announced that cross-government spending on Counter-Terrorism would be increased by 30% - increasing CT spending from the protected £11.7bn over five years to £15.1bn over the same period. We have dedicated funding to help protect places of worship who have been subject or vulnerable to a hate crime.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 3 April (HL Deb, col 844), what representations they have made to the government of Israel to respect the terms of the Balfour Declaration, and to cease the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
It has long been the Government’s view that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is governed by the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to which Israel is a state party. We repeatedly call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law and have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation, including settlements and the treatment of Palestinian children in military custody.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect the rights of women in Syria, as part of their overseas operations in that country.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
All of the projects the UK funds through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund in Syria incorporate awareness of gender equality issues and work to promote the empowerment of women. In particular, we have supported women-led projects through a governance programme, which has enabled women to participate in community engagement activities, project development and decision-making at the local level.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 27 February (HL Deb, col 575), what measures they have taken to ensure that, at the point of entry into the UK, passport controllers focus on the legitimate passports presented by passengers and do not ascribe an assumed identity to visitors in terms of their dress code, nationality or religion.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Border Force officers undertake mandatory checks on all passengers arriving in the United Kingdom. Checks include conducting an examination of the person’s passport or other documents to establish their right to enter the United Kingdom. Border Force officers receive training and have access to comprehensive guidance to ensure the correct right of entry to the United Kingdom is applied. Border Force also employs a robust assurance programme to ensure passengers are dealt with correctly, consistently and without unlawful discrimination.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Nash on 6 March, what measures are in place to support minority women who choose atypical professions to embark on such careers and continue them effectively and to deal with public prejudices that prevail about such work not only on grounds of gender, but also colour and creed.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Equality Act 2010 prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment on grounds of gender, race and religion.
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith’s recent report into the issues faced by business in developing Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) talent from recruitment through to the executive layer made a number of recommendations for both Government and business.
The Government welcomed Baroness McGregor-Smith’s report and is encouraging businesses to take forward her recommendations. The practicalities of implementation will differ depending on the business in question but we will be working with Business in the Community in supporting companies to make these changes. These include developing a simple guide on how to discuss race in the workplace, an online portal of best practice and celebrating success through a list of the top 100 BME employers.
Dame Louise’s Casey’s review of integration and opportunity, published in December 2016, also highlights the employment prospects and English language proficiency among certain groups, including minority women. The Government is currently reviewing its findings and will respond in the coming months.
Ensuring the labour market provides equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, religion or gender, will require a joint effort with Government working with the private sector and organisations like Business in the Community to deliver the lasting change needed.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been subject to suspended committals for non-payment of council tax over the last three years; and what was the breakdown by (1) gender, and (2) age groups.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The table below shows the number of cases subject to suspended committals for non-payment of Council Tax over the last three years by gender. There are a few cases where the gender is not known. Data relating to age is not held centrally.
Year | Male | Female | Not Known | Total |
2014 | 549 | 482 | 148 | 1,179 |
2015 | 547 | 402 | 166 | 1,115 |
2016 (January -September) | 313 | 232 | 137 | 682 |
It is possible that one defendant may have more than one case.
Although suspended committals are reported as occurring within a particular year, the non-payment of Council Tax itself may be from a previous year or even a period covering more than one year.
This data is sourced from the HMCTS Libra Management Information System (MIS), and does not form part of the statistics for England and Wales published by the Ministry of Justice, which can be found at: www.justice.gov.uk. As such this data set is not subject to the same levels of quality assurance.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what requirements they have set for community rehabilitation companies to make specific arrangements for the rehabilitation of minority groups whose first language is not English.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
We have given Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) the flexibility to innovate and do what works to reduce reoffending, including tailoring rehabilitative support to offenders based on their individual needs. To promote equality of opportunity and avoid discrimination against offenders on the grounds of protected characteristics, CRCs are required to comply with relevant equalities and human rights legislation as they work with offenders.
Whilst not defined in law as a protected characteristic, we have taken steps to ensure that language is not a barrier to an individual’s rehabilitation. At the beginning of each sentence, CRCs are contractually required to arrange a face to face interview to assess each offender’s risk profile and rehabilitative needs. This informs the initial sentence plan, which the CRC must explain to the offender verbally and in writing to ensure they understand how they must behave and what they must do to comply with their sentence. The CRC must also seek confirmation that the offender has understood this explanation. Where the offender understands insufficient English to enable this, CRC must undertake the initial interview and provide confirmation of the sentence plan in a language they were able to understand.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Nash on 11 January about the risk to children in unrecognised school settings or receiving home education, what specific measures are taken to help children who come from households where English is not spoken.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government supports children from homes where English is not spoken in a number of ways. At present, it is up to local authorities to decide whether to include English as an Additional Language (EAL) as a factor in the local formulae for funding schools. 136 used an EAL factor in the current year, with per pupil values ranging from below £100 to over £3000. However, in our proposals for the National Funding Formula, currently under consultation, we have proposed that all children with EAL will attract an additional £515 (primary) or £1385 (secondary) to their school, for the first 3 years after they enter the state system, wherever they are in the country. This is proposed to come in from 2018-19.
Where children are educating at home instead of in school, parents who educate a child at home must provide a full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitudes, and it is likely that such an education would need to include lessons in English to meet that requirement.
The Government also supports training for adults in English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL): to enable unemployed people on benefits to get the skills they need to get into and stay in work; to support the integration of long-standing migrant communities and particularly those individuals most at risk of isolation from services and wider society; and to support refugees, especially Syrians, to resettle in the UK. DfE funds ESOL training through the Adult Education Budget, which is allocated to providers annually by the Skills Funding Agency. In 2015-16 just under £100m was devoted to ESOL provision.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran about the protection of the human rights of Iranian women and scholars.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As mentioned in the 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Human Rights report, women do not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men in Iran and continue to face discrimination. There are continued restrictions on freedom of expression and belief. We repeatedly call on the Iranian government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the issue of human rights with Foreign Minister Zarif when they met on the 17 May.
Asked by: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the long-term impact of the introduction of SAT exams on vulnerable children.
Answered by Lord Nash
SATs, now called national curriculum tests, were first introduced in 1991. In determining primary assessment policy, the Department considers the impact of testing on all children as a matter of course, which includes drawing on evidence from this country’s past national tests.
As part of our Public Sector Equality Duty, we also consider the impact of Government policy on different groups of pupils, including – but not limited to – those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. Vulnerable children, such as those from disadvantaged backgrounds who qualify for free school meals, looked-after children who attract pupil premium plus funding, or those with special educational needs.
The Government believes that rigorous and appropriate assessment is in all pupils’ interests. National curriculum tests help teachers to understand how pupils are doing in relation to national expectations and identify where additional support is needed. They also hold schools to account for how well they support their pupils, which the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development concludes is particularly important for the least advantaged. The tests should not put undue pressure on any pupil and we trust teachers to approach them in a proportionate manner. Schools are also required to provide continuous and appropriate support for the wellbeing and resilience of all pupils.
For this year, we have introduced updated tests to align with the new National Curriculum which was introduced in 2014. In developing the curriculum we have been mindful of the possible impact on equalities and based on a wide range of evidence we have conducted a full equalities impact assessment. This paper has been attached to this answer.
The new tests will assess pupils’ attainment against the National Curriculum. In developing these tests, the Department has considered carefully their impact upon all pupils and we will continue to do so as they are introduced in schools.