Universities: Anti-Semitism

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Leigh of Hurley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to counter anti-Semitism on university campuses in the United Kingdom.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and, in doing so, draw your Lordships’ attention to my interests in the register.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

There is no place in our society for bigotry, hatred or any form of racism, such as anti-Semitism. Higher education institutions are committed to challenging intolerance on campus. They have a clear responsibility under the Equality Act 2010 to provide a safe and inclusive environment. Universities UK has established a task force to consider further measures to address harassment on campus, and it will report in the autumn.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley]

I thank my noble friend for her helpful Answer. Will her department consider the basis of the definition of anti-Semitism to be that proposed by Sir Eric Pickles and subsequently adopted by the UK College of Policing and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance? It specifies that anti-Semitism manifests itself when double standards are applied to the state of Israel, requiring of it behaviour that is not expected or demanded of other democratic nations. Will the Minister assure us that it cannot be right that British Jewish students in universities should be intimidated by overaggressive anti-Israel activity on their campuses?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

My noble friend is right: the definition Eric Pickles used was the EUMC working definition, which provides a valuable description of some of the ways contemporary anti-Semitism is manifested. He is also right that it has been included in operational guidance for the police since 2014. Universities may well want to consider it. One of the issues that the Universities UK task force, which I mentioned in my previous Answer, is looking at is how better training can be undertaken for university staff to help them understand the many different forms that anti-Semitism can take.