Commission on Antisemitism Report

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The report contains a number of very clear recommendations. Of course, all of those will be reviewed, and I hope that that will take place right across government. Certainly, I will make sure that my department looks at all the recommendations. As with any report, it takes a little while to assess the recommendations and how they need to be considered and implemented, but I reassure the noble Baroness that, right from the heart of government—I know the Prime Minister was asked about this yesterday—we consider this an important contribution to discussing how we tackle antisemitism in this country. We will take the recommendations seriously and act on them as appropriate.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, the report found evidence, particularly in its education-focused findings, that some Christian primary school teachers “inadvertently use antisemitic tropes” in lessons, especially religious studies. What urgent steps—they need to be urgent—will the Government take to ensure that these harmful tropes are rooted out of our schools? Will the Minister and her Government set out very quickly how they intend to achieve this?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I said in answer to the previous question about education, we communicate the examples of good practice that we have seen—for example, in Winchester—across the whole schools community. I am sure that my noble friend the Education Minister will take those on board. I agree with the noble Baroness that urgent action here is necessary. We must not let the passing on of these tropes go on any longer. I hope that we can take urgent action to make sure that good practice is rolled out across our schools as quickly as possible.