Antisemitism: Universities
Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Polak(6 days, 17 hours ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The Office for Students’ new condition E6, which requires universities to take action and have in place the framework to tackle intimidation and harassment, is a route through which the OfS could take action against universities if they do not take this seriously—though I believe many vice-chancellors are taking this seriously—and ensure that our universities are safe places for both Jewish students and staff.
Lord Polak (Con)
My Lords, I register an interest in that my niece, Sophie Dunoff, is the chief executive of the University Jewish Chaplaincy—and grateful, of course, for the £500,000. We can all recall that, when we were students—it was not that long ago for some of us—we would study a bit, protest maybe a lot and party even more. We are living in Britain, yet Jewish students are facing harassment, intimidation and cancellation. I find the fact that we are having these discussions in Britain, in 2025, worrying. Enough of this standing side by side. As I have said before, action has to be taken, otherwise we are in for a real shock.
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Lord is right: what is happening to Jewish students and Jewish members of staff is wholly unacceptable. He is also right that in this country we believe in a right to protest but we do not believe in a right to disrupt, intimidate or harass. That is why the OFS now has the powers that I have already outlined. It is why the Government have been clear in their communication with vice-chancellors that this issue must be taken enormously seriously and that action must follow, as the noble Lord says. It is also why the Government themselves are taking action to support the tackling of antisemitism through the education system.
Assistive Technology
Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Polak(5 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The noble and learned Baroness raises a really important point. We need to ensure that all teachers are, first of all, able to be special needs teachers, because that is their role. Secondly, we need to ensure the much earlier identification of those children with special needs. That needs to start, in many cases, before children even get to school. That is the reason why we have improved the guidance and training for those in early years settings and are improving the support available to schools to be able to identify children much earlier, including those with dyslexia, so that action can be taken. There is, of course, more that we need to do in this area, which is why special educational needs reform is a key priority for this Government and the Department for Education.
Lord Polak (Con)
My Lords, how will the Minister work with Department of Health colleagues to ensure that there are sufficient speech and language therapists, not just teachers, to enable this population to engage in their education?