Electoral Conduct (Discrimination)
Debate between Helen Grant and Lord StunellWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (Mrs Helen Grant)
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main. I thank all hon. Members for their passionate and sensitive speeches and many interventions about an issue that is certainly important to us all. Also, right at the beginning, I congratulate the all-party parliamentary inquiry into electoral conduct on its work. I was personally dismayed by the shocking examples of racism and discrimination during election campaigns featured in the detailed report that was produced.
The hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), who introduced the debate, already knows this, but for the benefit of the other people in the Chamber, I can confirm that a meeting has been set up for us in, I believe, June—I am not sure of the precise date. I look forward to meeting her. I am also very happy to meet members of the commission to discuss the inquiry’s findings. This is a very important issue to the Government and to me, as the Minister for Women and Equalities. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said when the inquiry published its report, we need to ensure that we keep this sort of horrible racism out of politics. That is exactly what some of the conduct and behaviour is.
As Minister for Women and Equalities, I recently took part in a debate on parliamentary representation. It was clear from the discussion that the Government, political parties and Parliament are making quite good progress, but it was recognised by everyone that we still have a very long way to go. I believe that tackling prejudice and ignorance is essential to the functioning of our democracy. Human rights principles provide a basis from which to build and maintain a safer, more prosperous, cohesive society, with care and consideration for the dignity and well-being of everyone at its heart.
Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about the importance of making the universal declaration of human rights
“a living document, something that is not just words on paper”;
something that is not just written down, but that we
“bring to the lives of all people”.
When the UN General Assembly agreed the Paris principles, Roosevelt’s vision started to become a reality. The Paris principles detail the role that national human rights institutions are expected to perform and make it very clear that such institutions must be independent of Government and that their independence must be guaranteed in legislation. The Equality Act 2006 established the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Britain’s first national human rights institution. The EHRC is independent of Government, and its remit is limited to equality and human rights issues. In 2009, the United Nations reviewed the EHRC’s work and structures and subsequently designated it an A-status national human rights institution, which means that it fully complies with the Paris principles.
The hon. Member for North East Derbyshire and many other hon. Members have raised genuine concerns about the EHRC and its response to the inquiry’s recommendations. I will respond to some of those concerns in as much detail as I can. I know it has been claimed that the commission should engage in certain work and that it should be taking responsibility and showing enthusiasm. However, if the Government failed to respect the independence of the EHRC by requiring it to do certain work, the EHRC could see its status downgraded or cease to be recognised as a national human rights institution by the United Nations. I understand what the hon. Lady is saying, but I think that it is for the all-party group against anti-Semitism, which has played an important role in getting us to the position that we are in today, or hon. Members with concerns or other relevant groups, to make the case to the EHRC’s board, which sets the work programme. I will come back later to the question of encouragement.
If the Government directed the EHRC to create an election toolkit, which was recommendation 1 in the inquiry’s report, we would be asking a regulator charged with ensuring people’s freedom of expression to seek to limit how people exercised that freedom of expression in relation to campaigning. That would create a degree of inconsistency. The Government believe that it is for individual political parties to decide what they want. If they feel that such a toolkit might be useful, it is for them to produce one.
Various political advertisements have been mentioned today, and it is worth noting that political advertising is exempt from the British codes on advertising and sales promotion. Consequently, even the bodies that could in principle regulate in this area are unable to do so. The best course of action—it is a practical one, which often works—for anyone with concerns about a political advert is to contact the party responsible and exercise their democratic right to tell that party exactly what they think. If it is felt that the advert amounts to discrimination or hate crime, that is a matter for the courts and the police. The police take hate crime and racism very seriously.
Sir Andrew Stunell
The guidelines made available by the CRE were used extensively by local authorities, returning officers and others who regulate the election process. Does the Minister not see a wider role than simply issuing guidelines to political parties?
Mrs Grant
I hear what the right hon. Gentleman has to say, and I know that he participated in the inquiry. However, the issues are electoral ones. The Electoral Commission publishes guidance and deals with misconduct. If the sin or the abuse is worse than misconduct, it is, of course, discrimination and it is dealt with by the courts. If it is worse than that—if it amounts to hate crime or racism—the police will take such matters seriously. If political parties feel that codes of practice are needed, it is for them to reach agreement and produce such codes.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Helen Grant and Lord Stunell(11 years, 2 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mrs Helen Grant)
The Ministry of Justice has published evaluations of the effectiveness of community orders and custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. Reoffending rates are still too high, and that is why we have set out plans to transform rehabilitation.
Andrew Stunell
While there has been a very welcome fall in crime and antisocial behaviour, many victims still feel alienated by the justice system and its impenetrable sentencing guidelines. Will the Minister speed up the move to restorative justice so that victims can feel much more engaged and the community will benefit from the justice system?
National Planning Policy Framework
Debate between Helen Grant and Lord Stunell
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)
The Government welcome the opportunity to debate this subject both today and the day before yesterday. It is one of a series of parliamentary debates on national planning policy and demonstrates very clearly our commitment to ensuring that hon. Members have a full opportunity to discuss such important matters. Perhaps I can underline a point made clearly by my right hon. Friend the Minister on Tuesday: our view is that it would be right for the House to have an annual debate on the progress of the planning reforms and our planning system in general.
The content of the final framework shows the seriousness with which we take the issue of consultation. The debate, in which we have heard 15 speakers, has yet again demonstrated how important it is to get these things right. Planning is how we create communities that work, how we create places that we can be proud to live in, and how we lay the foundations for businesses to grow to develop a prosperous country.
All hon. Members want to protect and enhance our green spaces and our countryside, making both available for our enjoyment today and for generations to come. As has frequently been said, we have produced a document that is some 50 pages long, replacing 1,000 pages. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) said that simpler and shorter is not always better, but I have found it difficult to find anybody who believes that producing the guidance in the NPPF in the way that we have has not made it much more accessible and transparent. It has taken the mystification out of the planning process and means for the first time that ordinary members of the public have a realistic chance of understanding the decisions that are taken around about them, and of playing an active part in those decision-making processes without the need first to resort to people with two degrees in planning.
The NPPF is a very important step towards localising the planning process. There have been plenty of references to neighbourhood plans, which are an integral part of the planning reforms we have introduced. No hon. Member has mentioned neighbourhood development orders, but they are another significant step forward, because local communities can take charge of their future and their area. Of course, that fits together with the local development framework of all planning authorities.
Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)
The NPPF is a good and thoughtful document, but a couple of my constituents have raised concerns about the community infrastructure levy and said it might be a disincentive. I would be grateful if the Minister could provide some reassurance on that.
Andrew Stunell
I entirely agree that the community infrastructure levy is an important part of the planning architecture, and we will publish our proposals on it in due course.
It is also right—this was reflected in the debate—that the planning process is not about creating a fictitious Disney World; it is about resolving tensions, and competing interests and goods. Hon. Members have acknowledged that we neither have the free-for-all, wild west scenario that some of our sternest critics predicted in July last year, nor are we retaining the top-down, lock-down alienating system we inherited in 2010. This balanced document is part of a balanced framework.