Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in the Office for Students have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not hold this information. The job titles of staff at the Office for Students are a matter for the Office for Students.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in the Education and Skills Funding Agency have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold the information requested. The department does not hold information on job titles, as the department’s records are by job grade only.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested is not held centrally. Departmental records are categorised by job grade only.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to respond to reports of increases in the number of incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia in (a) schools, (b) universities and (c) other educational settings.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It has been deeply concerning to see the rises both in antisemitism and in Islamophobia since the 7 October terrorist attacks against Israel. All education settings have a legal duty of care to safeguard and protect the welfare of all children and students; and must have regard to equalities legislation and comply with relevant provisions under the Equality Act 2010.
Every school and further education provider, including independent and faith schools, should actively promote the shared values, including mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. The department has published advice on promoting these values and made resources available on challenging antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/.
The department has also published the Preventing and Tackling Bullying guidance, which directs schools to organisations who can provide support with tackling bullying related to race, religion and nationality. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying. The department is providing over £3 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024 to five anti-bullying organisations, which includes projects to tackle hate-related bullying on the basis of race and faith.
In the Autumn Statement, on 22 November 2023, the government has announced a further £7 million of funding over the next three years to help tackle antisemitism in education, and to ensure support is in place for schools, colleges, and universities to understand, recognise and deal with antisemitism effectively.
In universities the department is working to introduce a Tackling Antisemitism Quality Seal, which will be awarded to providers who’ve shown leadership and excellent practice in their approach to antisemitism. A five-point plan has been set out that both the department and university leaders should take to strengthen our support for Jewish students. The plan is available at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/11/05/how-were-protecting-jewish-students-on-university-campuses/. The department also welcomes guidance produced by Universities UK, which focuses on tackling anti-Muslim hatred available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/tackling-islamophobia-and-anti-muslim.
The department continues to engage both with Jewish and with Muslim groups, including the Union of Jewish Students and Tell MAMA, and is actively assessing incidents affecting both communities. Where there are serious concerns, departmental officials have reached out to providers to understand what actions have been taken.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to help tackle racial inequality.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We published our ground-breaking race equality strategy last year.
Inclusive Britain set out 74 actions to tackle entrenched ethnic disparities across health, education, employment, policing and criminal justice.
18 months on and we have completed over half of the actions, including:
o publishing new ethnicity pay guidance for employers;
o issuing improved guidance on behaviour in schools and on suspensions and permanent exclusions; and
o improving the stop and search process through new de-escalation skills training for police officers.
A further update will be provided to parliament in Spring 2024
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the NIA Academy on its obligations under section 9 of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Secretary of State has asked the Regional Director to speak to Haringey Council and Haringey Education Partnership about their work with the Northampton International Academy (NIA). They confirmed the initiative was set up to address large and longstanding differences in attainment between black heritage students and white British students in Haringey. Whilst the initiative is targeted towards black heritage students, it is open to pupils of all ethnicities. They also confirmed that the programme does not introduce pupils to critical race theory.
The Department’s guidance to schools on political impartiality is clear. Schools must remain politically impartial and should be mindful of the need not to promote partisan political views to pupils.
As an out of school setting, the NIA Academy is not regulated under education or childcare law. This means that the Department does not set the admissions framework for these settings, and so the Department has not contacted the organisation directly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the recommendations of the report by the Traveller Movement entitled Disrupting the school to prison pipeline, published in July 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The Department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller pupils and how education can make a positive difference. The Department is responding to the seven recommendations in the report.
The report recommended that the Department must ensure a race equality and diversity policy is made a statutory element of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) for all schools. Already the PSED requires public bodies, including maintained schools and academies, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010.
Schools have specific legal duties to publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the PSED, and to prepare and publish equality objectives. Schools are also required to publish information relating to those who share a relevant protected characteristic and who are affected by their policies and practices. The Department has published guidance for schools on how to ensure they comply with their duties under the Equality Act.
The report recommended that all schools must have the ability and resources to provide assessment of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, when requested by a parent or guardian, including annual reviews. It also recommended Local Authorities should consider providing base level EHC plans funding to all schools.
On 2 March 2023, the Department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper. The Improvement Plan outlines the approach for the successful implementation of these policy reforms, including proposals for EHC plan reform. The Department will develop reformed templates and guidance to deliver a nationally consistent EHC plan process which makes greater use of digital technology, with the aim to increase consistency and the speed with which support is put in place.
The report also recommended that the Department should require all school and academy trusts to establish an On-Site Inclusion Unit (OSIU). In July 2022, the Department published updated guidance on behaviour in schools and suspension and permanent exclusion statutory guidance. The behaviour guidance makes clear some schools can choose to have pupil support units (sometimes called ‘in school units’) which should be used to provide planned pastoral support for vulnerable pupils and as a last resort measure to support pupils at risk of exclusion.
Additionally, the report recommended that expert head teacher panels should be established to provide final assessments for proposed permanent exclusions and the department should develop standardised guidance for use of in school exclusionary practices and reporting guidelines for monitoring their use.
The updated exclusion guidance is clear that, in all cases, schools should consider initial intervention to address underlying causes of disruptive behaviour which may minimise the need for permanent exclusion. Whilst a permanent exclusion may still be an appropriate sanction, schools should take account of any contributing factors.
The statutory process to review school exclusions is clear that governing boards have a role to review the decision of the head teacher to permanently exclude and if the governing board decides to uphold the permanent exclusion, the parents have the right to an Independent Review Panel.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the report of the Runnymede Trust and Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation entitled Dear Stephen: Race and belonging 30 years on, published in April 2023, whether she has made an assessment of the impact on her Department's policies of that report's findings.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The report ‘Dear Stephen: Race and belonging 30 years on’ concludes that we have made ‘considerable progress on the path to achieving racial equality’ since the tragic death of Stephen Lawrence, although there is still more to be done. This is similar to the conclusions reached by the independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
Our response to the Commission’s work, Inclusive Britain, was published in March 2022 and sets out a ground-breaking action plan to tackle unjust disparities across education, employment, health and criminal justice. Earlier this month the government published a report to Parliament on the substantial progress we have made in delivering this action plan, with 32 of the 74 actions now completed, and how this work is making a real difference to people’s lives.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address trends in the level of racial inequalities in school exclusions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Behaviour in schools is a priority for the Government. Head teachers use suspensions and permanent exclusions when required as part of creating calm, safe and supportive classrooms. Schools should only use permanent exclusion as a last resort. The Department supports teachers in taking proportionate and measured steps to ensure good behaviour in schools.
The updated Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance 2022 sets out that schools, Local Authorities, and local partners should work together to understand what lies behind local exclusion trends. Guidance on updated suspension and permanent exclusion can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-exclusion.
This is in line with the commitment the Government made in Inclusive Britain: the Government’s response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (published March 2022). Action 36 committed to ‘consult on and publish new and improved guidance on behaviour in schools and on suspensions and permanent exclusions in 2022’.
The Department’s ‘Understanding your data: a guide for school governors and academy trustees’ makes clear governing boards should carefully consider the level and characteristics of pupils who are leaving the school and deploy maximum challenge to the school and academy trust management teams on any permanent exclusions to ensure it is only used as a last resort.
Schools have a clear duty not to discriminate against pupils under the Equality Act 2010. Ofsted’s assessment of behaviour in schools includes specific consideration of rates, patterns and reasons for exclusions, as well as any differences between groups of pupils.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of racial and accent prejudices towards Indian nationals and people of Indian heritage on the (a) investment of Indian tech firms into the UK and (b) ability of Indian tech firms to locate their businesses in the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
India remains the UK’s second largest foreign direct investment (FDI) market of origin, second after only the US. In 2021/22, the Department for International Trade supported 98 FDI investments originating from India, creating almost 8,300 jobs across the UK. In the 3 years to March 2021, on average households in the Indian ethnic group were the most likely to have a weekly income of £2,000 or more.
The Government is committed to making Britain a fairer place for all, and for delivering equality of opportunity for everyone. This includes tackling all types of discrimination, including on grounds of race, wherever it arises.
It is unlawful to discriminate, harass or victimise a person because of their race, ethnicity, nationality or colour. The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) provides legal protection for the protected characteristic of race, which includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins. This means the Act provides protection against unlawful racial or ethnic discrimination in employment and in other areas covered by the Act such as services, transport, education and housing.
A person's voice/accent can sometimes be an indicator of a protected characteristic (in particular race). So although accent is not a protected characteristic, it is possible that discriminating against a person because of their accent will amount to unlawful discrimination under the Act, depending on the circumstances.