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be very happy if Merseyrail took control of their tracks. It has been | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
a long possibility to create that out now it is not. | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Thank you. Order. Urgent question. Mr Clive Betts. | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating Casey in producing | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
a rate informative report. Order. He should as kids urgent | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
question and then I will give him an opportunity to expand on it. -- | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
asked. Can I ask his initial observations | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
on the report? The Secretary of State. | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
Thank you. Can I thank the honourable gentleman for this | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
opportunity. In July 2015 the Government asked Casey to conduct a | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
review. A report was published yesterday. Let me take this | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
opportunity once again to thank her for her thorough and diligent work | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
over the past 18 months. Many of her findings ring true to me personally. | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
I have seen the enormous contribution that immigrants make to | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
British life, all without giving up the unique cultural identities. I | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
have also seen the other side of the equation. For too long, too many | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
people in this country have been living parallel lives, refusing to | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
integrate and failing to embrace the shared values that make Britain | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
great. For too long, too many politicians in this company to that | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
country have refused to deal with the problem. The art beard of being | :01:34. | :01:41. | |
called a racist. -- they art beard. I will not allow this to continue. | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
We have a moral responsibility to deal with this situation and the | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
report is a crucial step in that process. I am studying her findings | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
very closely. It touches on the work of a number of Government | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
departments and I will be discussing it with colleagues more widely. In | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
the spring we will come back to this house with the plans to tackle these | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
issues so we can continue building a country that works for everyone. | :02:07. | :02:15. | |
I had the pleasure of hosting Louise Casey on a visit to Sheffield, where | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
she identified the scale and the speed of Slovakian Roma migration to | :02:20. | :02:28. | |
the city. She identified in Sheffield, very often those | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
communities lived side-by-side with very little interaction, let alone | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
any integration. We'll be Secretary of State indicate his response to | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
the very detailed recommendations of the report, particularly a key | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
recommendation of the creation of the new programme to improve | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
community cohesion with area -based plans and projects? Does he | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
recognise this will lead targeted funds, rather like impact funds the | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
Government abolished? Does the Secretary of State agreed that | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
speaking English is key to integration? Will he agreed to | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
reverse the cuts that have been made to the funds available for courses | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
teaching English as a second language? Does the Secretary of | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
State have a view on the recommendation is to promote British | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
values in all communities, especially those values of tolerance | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
and respect for others and with support equality on grounds of sex, | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
sexuality, race and religion? Given that many of the recommendations are | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
challenging, some may be controversial, will you have a | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
programme to consult with elected councils and the different community | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
is in those areas most impacted by the recommendations? Will be | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
Secretary of State have discussions with Government colleagues come back | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
to the House without plan and may be coming to the select committee to | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
discuss it as well? First of all, can I thank the | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
honourable gentleman for his warm words and has welcomed for the | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
report. I know this is an issue he has taken an interest in many years | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
and I also look forward to speaking to him as the chairman of the select | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
committee. He will know this is an independent report, it is not a | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
statement of Government policy. The Government will want to take the | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
right amount of time to look at each of the findings of the report and | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
certainly the recommendations that Dame Louise has made. He has asked | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
about a number of the recommendations and let me just | :04:33. | :04:40. | |
respond without prejudging our response in spring next year to the | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
report to some of those. He asked about the area -based... The idea of | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
having a more placed based view on this. I think taking local | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
circumstances is common sense, something that the Government | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
already does with its integration cohesion programmes. I would like to | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
see how we can do that and make more of that. He asked about making | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
resources available. Of course, any recommendation that the Government | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
accepts will make sure they are suitably resourced. The honourable | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
gentleman also asked about the importance of English. That is one | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
of the central recommendations of the report, making sure every | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
community in Britain can speak English. I remember when I was about | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
eight or nine years old, going with my mother because she had to visit | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
the doctor and acting as the interpretative for that. Many years | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
later she learned English and speaks very well and it has transformed her | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
life. I think not just for her, but it is great news for British society | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
when more and more people speak English. I know from personal | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
experience the difference that can make. That is why I am pleased the | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
Government does spend more than I think ?100 million per year in | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
helping people learn English, a foreign language for them. We have | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
to see what more we can do. He has also asked about promoting British | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
values. Of course he is right to stress that. The report touches on | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
that in a number of areas. We talked about the importance of tolerance | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
and respect. I'm sure he will agree that when it comes to those, | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
certainly respect, it works both ways. It is respect for all | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
communities of each other and immigrant communities, of the | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
dominant Christian culture in this country, which is sometimes lacking. | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
We have got to make sure that we are promoting British values and every | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
sensible way that we can and we will be looking at the report closely and | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
reporting back in the spring on its findings. | :06:45. | :06:52. | |
I welcome the review. It echoes a number of the findings in the recent | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
women and equality select committee on the challenges that many Muslim | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
people face, getting work in this country. In her report she sets out | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
that women in some communities face a double barrier of gender and | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
religion, preventing them from accessing even basic rights as | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
British residents. How is the Secretary of State ensuring that | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
every person in this country is afforded the protection of the | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
equality act and also their rights under the law of this country? | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
My right honourable friend is right to raise this issue. She is also | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
someone in this house to speaks with great experience and has done a lot | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
to promote equality in this country with her work as a minister and on | :07:38. | :07:45. | |
the backbenches. She talks about the issue of... The double barriers | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
faced by some women. The report talks about the challenges of Muslim | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
women. I think there is more that needs to be done there, not just | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
directly by Government, but also it is a challenge to news and | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
communities and some Muslim men about how they treat Muslim women | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
and I think these fines are very important and it should take them | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
seriously and find what more we can do. | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
I thank the chair of the select committee preparing this important | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
question. For too long as the country we have ignored these | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
complex issues for fear of being seen as racist. Sadly, this approach | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
has left a vacuum that has been exploited by those who exist to | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
promote hatred. It is now time we recognise the problems and | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
opportunities highlighted in the case report and address these in a | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
realistic and mature way. One of the issues that was highlighted by the | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
chair of the select committee is that speaking English. One of the | :08:51. | :08:53. | |
most concerning areas of the report is that how women in some | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
communities are denied equal rights and opportunities. We are constantly | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
are urging people who suffer sexual abuse, violence, to speak out. You | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
cannot speak out if you cannot speak English. If you cannot speak | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
English, you cannot ring 999. The case finds that more money has been | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
spent promoting the Cornish language than it did English. I would like to | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
ask the Secretary of State if he now believes that English for a language | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
should not have been scrapped in light of his experience of a young | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
man. Will he commit to reinstating these classes? Communities have been | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
left behind and it is not acceptable to blame the people living in those | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
two minute is for this, the report has found. Many of the projects will | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
empower marginalised women, promote social mixing, tackling barriers to | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
employment and the most socially isolated groups. Projects have been | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
scrapped due to devastating cuts to local Government. Does the Secretary | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
of State recognised that cuts to local Government funding has | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
contributed to these problems and Willie push for fear of funding in | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
the coming Spending Review? The Minister agree that any initiatives | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
that facilitate better integration should be welcomed? -- will he. | :10:16. | :10:24. | |
Integration requires the active participation of all Britons. I | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
would also like to ask the secondary state, the report looks at | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
education, recommending strong safeguards for children not in | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
mainstream education. Canny outline what is being done by his department | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
and other departments to make sure those children are safeguarded? -- | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
hanky? -- can he? The honourable lady, I am | :10:49. | :10:56. | |
pleased she agrees with me that these issues raised in the report | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
have been ignored too long by politicians on both sides of the | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
House. It is good that we agree on that and take this report as an | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
important step to starting to deal together with some of these issues. | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
She asks about English language. I am disappointed that after she | :11:18. | :11:26. | |
starts with the point about the Cornish language, if she looked at | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
it more closely, she would see it is misleading headline. In fact, what I | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
can tell her is that... She's talking about spending online which | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
by my department. I shall tell her the facts. We have spent ?680,000 on | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
the Cornish language. It is spent in fewer years, in five years, ?11 | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
million on committee -based English language programmes. On top of that, | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
the rest of the Government has spent hundreds of millions of pounds in | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
supporting English. If we are going to have a proper debate, the | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
honourable lady would be well advised to stick to the facts and | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
use those in the debate. The honourable lady also asked about | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
local Government funding. She asked Will there be... She should know | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
that there is a fairer funding review going on. We will report back | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
early next year. She asked about the Muslim Council of Britain and some | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
of their early comments on the report. It is important to highlight | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
I went to speak to all groups, including the Muslim Council of | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
Britain and many others that have comments on the report and | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
suggestions about how we can take integration and cohesion forward. | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
She also asked about safeguarding, in particular of young Muslims that | :12:44. | :12:52. | |
might be vulnerable in some ways. She will know that the present | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
programme is exactly that. It is a safeguarding programme and that is | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
something I hope the whole house can support. | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
Call sharia law will be a voluntary choice for women lacking in close | :13:06. | :13:18. | |
communities? -- closed communities. My honourable friend raises an | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
important issue and it has come up in the report. First of all, it is | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
worth reminded me how that sharia law councils are not courts in | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
England and Wales and cannot legally enforced decisions and must operate | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
within national law. There are legitimate issues here, highlighted | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
in this report, and that is why I'm pleased the Government has already | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
started a full independent review of sharia law in England and Wales. I | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
look forward to the conclusions. Dame Louise Casey is my extensive | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
report comes at an interesting time, with Brexit exacerbating hate crime | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
and tensions ramping up. I am glad that in Scotland we have the | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
political leadership at all levels, whether that be First Minister | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
Nicola Sturgeon who has made welcome the new Scots who had chosen | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
Scotland, the tremendous honour of making Scotland home. A Glasgow City | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
Council we have a banner proclaiming at the front door refugees are | :14:20. | :14:27. | |
welcome. Also organisations fostering integration. | :14:28. | :14:35. | |
Order, order. Why is there so much noise in the chamber when the | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
honourable lady is speaking? She must be listened to. | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
The challenges I have highlighted, as highlighted in the review. In | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
some cases, these things are because. Ending austerity, I | :14:49. | :14:50. | |
believe, is the best thing this Government could do to tackle social | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
exclusion and promote integration. Well he challenged the -- will he | :14:57. | :15:04. | |
challenged the rhetoric that its people against each other? Will he | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
look to Scotland at how we give opportunities for people to share | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
experiences? Will he reversed the damaging cuts to ESOL? Willie | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
refused to accept the offensive suggestion that we require an | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
integration of. -- will he refused to accept this? | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
It is a shame she has to be so party political about this. It is a shame | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
she cannot act in a mature fashion. When she and the SNP have something | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
useful to say, I will respond. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
the secretary of State had the opportunity to listen to two | :15:46. | :15:57. | |
important radio programmes on the things broadcast by the BBC a year | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
ago, the deobandis? I believe they shown an important light on the | :16:04. | :16:14. | |
problems which affect us. Well he agree that public servants | :16:15. | :16:16. | |
delivering this should be proud and apologetic about the important work | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
done to keep us safe. 'S first of all, I can tell my | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
honourable friend that I have not listened specifically to those | :16:27. | :16:36. | |
programmes mentioned on the Deobandis, but I am aware of the | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
issues faced by those committees. This report is a reminder about all | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
communities that we can help through Government action. He also raises | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
the prevent programme. I'm pleased to hear about his support, because | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
he has supported it for a while. My honourable gentleman knows it works. | :16:55. | :17:02. | |
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Minister refers to the Prevent | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
strategy and in relation to children who are home-schooled, can he please | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
explain how that operates and how that success is measured? | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
Secretary of state. Home-schooling, you will know, is an | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
important and valuable option we offer. The education minister has | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
heard her mission question, and I am sure she will respond. | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
Are welcome this report but one concern about the report I have is | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
it does not have reflections on the future of faith schools, and | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
therefore the integration of young people across faiths. I hope that we | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
will look at that in particular. Can we take some urgent action on one of | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
the recommendations in the report? That would be children who are | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
withdrawn from education and educated at home, and they may not | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
receive the sort of education that we would like them to see. These | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
children are at risk right now and we need to take urgent action. | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
Secretary of state. My honourable friend raises an | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
important point that we are looking at unmonitored and unregistered | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
settings, and I think once that review is complete, it will help us | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
deal with the kind of issues he is concerned about. He talked generally | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
about faith schools, which are hugely important in our education | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
system and they provide variety. But frankly so many people choose | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
schools of faith because by and large they are excellent schools. | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
Many of them do a great job in promoting education. One of my own | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
brothers as a Muslim went to a Roman Catholic school and it put him a lot | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
about British society and values. I think we should find good practice | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
and promoted where we can. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
Louise Casey is right to call at misogyny as one of the ways in which | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
women are socially excluded from a naughty ethnic communities, not an | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
issue some of us however ignored. -- and minority ethnic communities. But | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
will he talked about the misogynist fantasies of the Home Office to | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
exclude whites to come from overseas from access to free ESOL for the | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
first two years earlier? And for those women in Britain exploited by | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
husbands cheating their way into Britain on a marriage ticket? They | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
British citizens, what has happened British citizens, what has happened | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
to their citizens, and refuse to collaborate -- they refuse to tell | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
the wives. Unfortunately I do not recognise | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
much of what the honourable lady is talking about. She would do well to | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
stick to the facts. She talks about women coming to Britain and helping | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
them to learn English. As we honourable members have mentioned | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
already, the English is hugely important for integration, that is | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
why this Government has put in a requirement that before anyone can | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
come and settle permanently in this country, they must be able to speak | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
English. The report says this, that too many | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
public institutions national and local, state and non-state, have | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
gone so far to accommodate diversity and freedom of expression that they | :20:34. | :20:35. | |
have ignored or even condoned regressive, divisive and harmful | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
cultural and religious practices, for fear of being branded racist or | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
Islamophobic. Does the Secretary of State believe that this is a great | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
opportunity for Government to take a lead in forging a common, moderate | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
British identity that new arrivals must sign up to F integration will | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
take off? -- modern British identity. | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
Correct, and I said at the start and I am pleased to see she agrees. For | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
too long, politicians have ignored this issue. There was a fear of | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
being branded racist, and that is unacceptable. This is an excellent | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
opportunity for us to deal with it. Thank you. Integration is a two-way | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
process and it can be assisted by central Government but must be | :21:28. | :21:28. | |
delivered at a local level. I delivered at a local level. I | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
suggest to the Secretary of State something we can do which would | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
respond to the Casey Report is to give regional mayors in the West | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
Midlands the power, because I think they would be the best ones to then | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
know what kind of employment opportunities and integration | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
projects for better training and education should be applied. | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
I think the honourable lady is right about the importance of having local | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
flexibility and local control over the integration programme. She may | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
be well aware of the neighbours programme, where thousands of | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
projects run locally with voluntary groups and local authorities | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
involved, which I figured a good example, and she has made her do | :22:14. | :22:15. | |
suggest you and I listened carefully. | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
The Minister will be aware that the last two Muslims to be murdered in | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
hate crimes were murdered not by Brexit supporters but by other | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
Muslims. Does lets not show the importance of implementing the | :22:30. | :22:31. | |
report demanding that all communities sign up to gay rights, | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
women's rights and the rights to interpret religion in any way one | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
wishes? I think what my honourable friend | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
highlights the importance of promoting British values and making | :22:44. | :22:45. | |
sure that is something that is accepted by all communities in | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
Britain, and that includes intolerance and it includes freedom | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
of speech and freedom of religion and respect for democracy. The more | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
we can do to make sure every committee and braces that we will be | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
better. Right honourable gentlemen tolerance is part of British values. | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
I do not recognise the description of the Muslim community painted in | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
this route to that report, in respect of my home city of Leicester | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
were 20% are Muslim and 15% from ethnic minority communities. Yet I | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
have been to so many dinners for ethnic minority communities and | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
other events he will know what amenities will want more than | :23:28. | :23:30. | |
anything else is to belong, to integrate and to be ambitious for | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
their children. -- communities want this. In which other country had a | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
son of a bus driver being Secretary of State in the Cabinet, he talked | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
about as a potential Prime Minister? In which country in the world and we | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
have four Muslim woman being in the House today we adding all of their | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
constituents? Let us also, while accepting what this report says, be | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
positive about the huge contribution that the ethnic minority community | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
's have made. They have made this country great. | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
First of all, my honourable gentleman is right to highlight the | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
massive positive contribution that immigrants through the decades have | :24:13. | :24:14. | |
made to our great country and how they have made our country is | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
stronger country. He will also recognise, as he referred | :24:22. | :24:22. | |
specifically to Muslim communities and including in his home | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
constituency, that a lot of the issues are challenges that really | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
affect a minority of the Muslim community. I think members of the | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
Muslim community... I know factually that many members of the Muslim | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
community recognise there are problems and challenges that are | :24:41. | :24:42. | |
particular to their own community, and they as much as the right | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
honourable gentlemen, myself and others in this House want to do | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
that. In Bradford, we have issues of | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
segregation and integration in our communities, and I very much welcome | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
the report on what the Secretary of State has said today. Can I invite | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
him to come along to Bradford sometime next year to see what the | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
Government can do to help with local communities, with their desire for | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
more community cohesion and integration? In the meantime, can he | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
be very firm with local authorities and stop them from translating | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
documents into lots of different languages, and insist that they are | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
all in English only? Secretary of State. | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, first of all, my honourable friend, he of the | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
challenges in his own constituency, of segregation, lack of | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
integration... But I know that he will also be one of the first to | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
accept that... How different amenities have actually helped his | :25:47. | :25:48. | |
constituency in so many ways and brought so much for people to | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
celebrate. I would be more than happy to come to Bradford and look | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
at both issues with him. Thank you, and whilst a second part | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
of my colleague's invitation to Bradford, I do have a problem with | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
the second part... How will the Minister address the structural | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
inequalities affecting Muslim communities which restrict their | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
aspirations for greater engagement with society, especially Muslim | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
women? The honourable lady will know that | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
already there are a number of programmes in place, some since | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
2011, 2012, the Government has spent ?60 million on integration and | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
cohesion programmes, including teaching the language, the English | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
language, to isolated communities, many of those being women. But we | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
have always got to see what more we can do. There are some suggestions | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
in this report. It would be wrong of me to... Not to study them carefully | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
look at what might be the best way in which ones to take forward in | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
which ones to implement... And authority doing that. If the | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
honourable lady has looked at the report in detail, and has particular | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
suggestions I would be happy to listen to them. | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
Sport does so much to break down barriers, bring people together and | :27:12. | :27:14. | |
promote British values in our society on an organic basis. | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
Although we have a proud record in this country, will he see what more | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
can be done working across Government to help boost sporting | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
participation, particularly amongst young people? | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
He makes a very important point. I remember when I was the culture | :27:31. | :27:39. | |
Secretary, we did sponsor a number of programmes particularly in | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
cricket and football that involved a number of Asian men. That did help | :27:43. | :27:49. | |
with community integration and cohesion. He is right to raise the | :27:50. | :27:52. | |
issue again and we should be looking at a cross sport discussion to see | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
how we can make that happen. I fear the Secretary of State fine | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
words mask little England identity politics. As a self east Londoner | :28:05. | :28:12. | |
representing a Welsh speaking Trinity, can he assured me that | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
British values do not equate to the British state imposed identity and | :28:18. | :28:25. | |
commit to address poverty and intercommunity respect? | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
I think the honourable lady knows full well what British values mean | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
and that means value for every part of the British kingdom. | :28:35. | :28:42. | |
I agree that for too long we have had a soft headed attitude towards | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
integration, which is led to segregated communities. I know he | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
has been asked about faith schools. Can I ask him to spend some more | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
time looking at the report because I share his concern that faith schools | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
further isolate young children. Does he agreed that this report deserves | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
a serious and determined response? Can I thank my honourable friend for | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
the work that she has already done to campaign on so many of the issues | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
that are raised in this report and look forward to speaking to her in | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
detail about the report and considering the recommendations. She | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
raised the issue of faith schools. As she knows, it is raised in this | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
report and it is something we want to look at carefully and something | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
we will be discussing with my colleagues. | :29:34. | :29:41. | |
Thank you. Young Muslim women I've met in my constituency are engaging | :29:42. | :29:51. | |
and whip smart. They are not held back by lack of integration, but | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
lack of opportunity. Will be Secretary of State look closely at | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
the recommendation to provide additional funding for area -based | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
plans to empower marginalised women and promote social mobility? | :30:06. | :30:17. | |
What I can say is she is right to raise the issue of opportunity, | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
while the report is about opportunity and integration and we | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
have always got to look across Government to provide opportunities | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
for all communities, including young Muslim women. I think she will also | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
recognise that she has described young woman that she has come | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
across, and they sound fantastic and model citizens, but there are also | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
young Muslim women that are being held back and often sometimes by | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
their own family or members of the own community. For example, as we | :30:51. | :30:53. | |
have seen in this report and things I have heard and known about for a | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
long time from bitter experience, women who have been held back | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
because they have been told to go out of chaperones, told to dress in | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
a certain way and we should not take certain jobs are good you | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
university. We want to make sure we tackle those issues as well. | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
No doubt she agrees with that. Does my right honourable friend agree | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
that whilst Britain should always remain a tolerant and diverse | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
nation, it is also important that new communities feel an obligation | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
to integrate, embrace a common British identity and that we should | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
never use the excuse of multiculturalism to tolerate | :31:35. | :31:36. | |
practices that are clearly not in accordance with British laws, values | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
and customs? I could not agree with my honourable | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
friend more. I think we are in this report is highlight this, we all | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
realise that mistakes were made in the past. We should have | :31:52. | :31:54. | |
collectively done a better job in helping to integrate and setup new | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
arrivals and new communities into Britain. Now we should learn from | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
that and looking forward, there are interesting suggestions how we can | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
do that meeting in easily. In Oxford I remember language | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
classes being provided for immigrant women with the same women went to | :32:17. | :32:19. | |
the same class as you are after year with no improvement and the ability | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
to speak English. Does this report not point to the fact that it is not | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
a question of throwing money it, it is a question of Bikini language | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
tuition effective? I agreed with my honourable friend. | :32:33. | :32:42. | |
We have got to make sure... -- making sure the language tuition is | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
effective. We have to make sure the language teaching is effective and | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
as we power through the report and any new initiatives become up with, | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
we have got to make sure that the art effective in tackling that | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
problem. The report quite rightly highlights | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
the good work of organisations like Tal Mum and the security trust. It | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
also draws attention to the upsurge in violence from people from Poland | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
and elsewhere in recent months. Can the Secretary of State have urgent | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
discussions with his colleagues in the Home Office about how we can | :33:23. | :33:30. | |
reduce the impact of the poisonous ideologies which come from other | :33:31. | :33:37. | |
countries and cause tensions and even deaths as we saw in Glasgow in | :33:38. | :33:46. | |
this country? Firstly, the honourable gentleman | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
mentioned to organisations in his question. Two very effective and | :33:50. | :33:56. | |
very valuable organisations. The Government are proud to support the | :33:57. | :33:59. | |
work they do on their are many others as well. It highlights that | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
to deal with these issues it requires lots of groups and state to | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
come together, and that includes voluntary organisations. He asked me | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
to meet with the Home Secretary and I can assure them that I regularly | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
discuss these issues will have a mutual interest. You might be | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
interested to know that very recently the Home Secretary and I | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
jointly cheered a hate crime action plan, will we a number of groups | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
that you mention to discuss more that we can do -- chair. I read the | :34:36. | :34:44. | |
review and it considers many important aspects. The refugee | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
Council has called for a comprehensive refugee integration | :34:49. | :34:50. | |
strategy, which is echoed by what we are finding in the all party group, | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
which I am cheering. The told us that they want to learn English, | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
work and integrate. Will the Government please support expanding | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
the Syria resettlement programme to create a comprehensive strategy? | :35:06. | :35:14. | |
The honourable lady is right to raise the importance of making sure | :35:15. | :35:22. | |
that refugees are integrated quickly and we provide resources for that. | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
There are a number of programmes in place to try and do just that. If | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
she believes there is more that can be done, I would be happy to learn | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
more from her. I congratulate the honourable | :35:35. | :35:36. | |
gentleman on getting this urgent question. I do think we could be | :35:37. | :35:44. | |
more positive about it. In my constituency we have an integrated | :35:45. | :35:47. | |
multicultural community. We have had it for a very long time. We have | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
Muslim councils and candidates, Hindu, seek and we have Christian. | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
Both critical and conservatives, temples, mosques and churches. I | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
just wonder that sometimes, might it be an idea that somebody from your | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
department is to come down to see how it works well, rather than | :36:11. | :36:13. | |
always concentrating on where it is going wrong. | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
I think that is a very good idea and my honourable friend highlights this | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
is something we should never forget. Whilst we're talking about the | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
challenges and how to deal with them, that so many immigrants | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
through the ages have come to this great country images huge | :36:34. | :36:35. | |
contribution to our country and made it so much stronger. | :36:36. | :36:43. | |
I welcome all efforts to it improve integration in the UK and this is | :36:44. | :36:46. | |
not the first study to find problems. I am concerned that there | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
is no real understanding in this report of the simple truth that | :36:52. | :36:55. | |
integration is a two way street and it should definitely not be used, as | :36:56. | :37:02. | |
so often is, as stick with which to beat the minority communities of | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
Britain. Given that, I wonder whether the Minister will consider | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
and what work can be done to understand, as Casey does, it is not | :37:10. | :37:16. | |
the driving of isolation. Asking our minority Trinity is to do more and | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
how we can get our majority community to play their part as well | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
so that integration can be a true success in our country. | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
I know the honourable lady feels passionately about these issues and | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
she has bought about them a lot. I think she will have some good | :37:36. | :37:38. | |
suggestions and is someone I am always very happy to speak to. I do | :37:39. | :37:46. | |
think it is unfair on Dame Casey to see that she does not recognise it | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
is a two-way street. Dame Louise has come up with some recommendations | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
and I think should take them seriously. I have discussed this | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
with her in the past and I think is reflected in the report, she | :38:04. | :38:05. | |
recognises that is a role for everyone to play in all communities. | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
As a Bedford has been home for people from many origins were | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
decades, we can see that there are some two amenities some commuters | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
follow inter-generational dispersion. Other communities that | :38:21. | :38:28. | |
follow integration of proximity, children and grandchildren living | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
next door to the grandparents. Can I draw the attention to recommendation | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
number ten, about the use of housing policy to encourage dispersion and | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
which also consider the possibility of using planning policy to | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
encourage dispersion of places of worship? | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
I have listened carefully to what my honourable friend has to say. I know | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
having visited his constituency with him a number of times, he takes his | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
issues very seriously and I know that in his constituency he is able | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
to look at these issues and suggest certain ideas. I will look carefully | :39:08. | :39:13. | |
at the recommendation number ten. Thank you. I want to echo my | :39:14. | :39:21. | |
honourable friend's remarks about the two-way process and highlight | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
that the last Labour Government set out the forced marriage unit, the | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
committee cohesion unit, both I was involved in establishing. They did | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
excellent work tackling the underlying causes. I would urge the | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
Secretary of State to make sure that we provide the resources to address | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
those issues. Secondly, on discrimination of ethnic minority | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed. I would urge the | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
Secretary of State to prioritise addressing the underlying problems | :39:57. | :39:59. | |
and barriers to be quality. Finally, to give attention to social | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
integration. I have as many challenges in my constituency | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
encouraging middle-class newcomers to integrate with the settled | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
communities, which are ethnic minorities, as I do the other way | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
around. We all have a part to play. If we can connect those communities | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
together through projects, mentoring, engagement, then we can | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
genuinely have a two-way process and a practical way to integrate people | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
rather than stigmatising setting communities. In this case, I believe | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
the news that committee in this report. | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
-- the Muslim committee. I am taking her last point first. She has done | :40:40. | :40:47. | |
committee work and I have seen how conservative it can be. She reasons | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
the issues of work opportunities. The Government does take that | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
seriously. I cheered this in my former role as Business Secretary | :40:57. | :41:05. | |
and encouraging opportunities for black, prickly young people. We are | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
looking to see what more can be done. She has also raised the issue | :41:09. | :41:17. | |
of forced marriage and other serious crimes of that nature. I think she | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
will agree with me that the Government has taken it seriously, | :41:23. | :41:25. | |
as did the previous Government. We have built an the good work. Much of | :41:26. | :41:33. | |
the good work has been done by the Prime Minister as Home Secretary. | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
This is his moment. His family experience and his sharp intellect | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
means he has the right man, in the right place at the right time. Dame | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
Louise Casey tackled head on the problems faced by thousands of | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
Muslim women in this country, many of whom don't speak English and | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
suffer misogyny and domestic violence at home, who are oppressed | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
by sharia law, have their life chances diminished. Can he ensure | :42:01. | :42:03. | |
the House today that it will not duck the challenge to seize the | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
recommendations from this report and to restore full human rights to this | :42:11. | :42:12. | |
very large cohort of oppressed women? | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
I can assure my honourable friend that I will not duck the issue is, | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
this Government will not duck the issue is. As I said right at the | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
start of this question, they have been ignored by too many politicians | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
were too long and that is not going to happen. | :42:33. | :42:39. | |
Secretary The of State will be the work of some concerns to prevent his | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
and demanding efforts to integrate the community. Can he mentioned | :42:46. | :42:57. | |
community led initiatives? The upper case prevent programme plays an | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
invaluable role which is accepted not just by the government, the | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
police, the CPS and others, but many community leaders themselves. | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
However, I recognise with certain people there is a confidence problem | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
around Prevent and we need to look to see what more we can do to turn | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
that around. Having more people involved in the community at a local | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
level is one way to do it. Madame Deputy Speaker, can I say how much I | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
welcome the presence of the Schools Minister on the front bench. One of | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
the best examples of community cohesion in my community is move | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
around academy school, rated excellent by Ofsted. I attended | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
their presentation evening last evening. They have 31 different | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
first languages at that school and they are producing wonderful young | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
people and will the Secretary of State praised me -- join me in | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
praising the governors and the pupils at that school. It sounds | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
absolutely fantastic and it sounds like we can learn more from their | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
approach and I look forward to doing that. Like other colleagues I have | :44:09. | :44:17. | |
concerns about integration in my own community. By no means things are | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
not bad, but it is true to say things could get much better. I say | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
in all good faith, where I had the resources to do this? Where are the | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
resources to run the youth clubs and the spores projects? Whenever | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
something goes badly wrong there is always a huge amount of resources | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
made available in the aftermath. The honourable gentleman knows that this | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
is an independent report and although there are a number of | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
recommendations, we need to go through them carefully and see which | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
ones we can build on. When I report back, which will be in the spring, | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
where that requires extra resource we will make sure that is available. | :45:04. | :45:12. | |
This was a review into opportunity in integration and the report | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
highlighted the persistent disadvantage of white, working-class | :45:17. | :45:19. | |
Jordan on free school meals who underperform at school. When the | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
government bring back their report in the spring, will they be | :45:25. | :45:27. | |
addressing that particular issue as well? Well, first of all there are a | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
number of actions that the Department for Education is taking | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
to address just that particular problem. She is right to raise it. | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
But she will also know that the Prime Minister has launched a race | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
disparity review and an audit which is looking at all public services, | :45:49. | :45:55. | |
whether education or across the government, and I am chairing that | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
process alongside the Cabinet Office minister and that work has just | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
begun. We are also trying to see for all communities, including white, | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
working-class boys, how the public services are provided and we are | :46:11. | :46:12. | |
trying to learn from that information to see what we can do. | :46:13. | :46:21. | |
And the lady who gets the last word! Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
is right to highlight the important role we all have to play in building | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
strong, resilient, integrated and cohesive communities. It is | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
Newcastle's diverse and United communities which make it such a | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
great city. But will the Secretary of State also recognised the toxic | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
combination of scapegoating refugees and migrants for cuts to public | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
services, Muslims for terrorism, minorities for segregation and the | :46:52. | :46:59. | |
white, for xenophobia, build barriers to integration? Will he | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
take steps to address such attitudes wherever he may find them? Yes, I | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
will. I think she is right to highlight Newcastle. I think it is a | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
fantastic city and one of the reasons is because of its diverse | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
community and the contribution they all make to that great city. She is | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
right to say there should be no scapegoating, we should be focused | :47:26. | :47:28. | |
on the facts and driven by the facts and the report is for that and I | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
look forward to seeing what more we can do. Thank you, order. Oh, point | :47:35. | :47:45. | |
of order. Alison view list. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
I am not sure if you can say this was an order or not. I asked the | :47:50. | :47:55. | |
Secretary of State four legitimate questions and he refused to answer | :47:56. | :47:58. | |
any of those until I was more serious. Could you tell me, Madam | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
Deputy Speaker, how I can resolve this issue? I thank the honourable | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
lady for raising her point of order and indeed I heard her ask the | :48:09. | :48:15. | |
questions and I heard the Secretary of State's reply and I have to say | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
the Secretary of State is at liberty to give whatever reply he wishes as | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
long as he does so in an orderly and polite manner, which of course he | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
did. But the honourable lady is also at liberty to ask her questions in | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
other ways at question time by asking for an adjournment debate, by | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
putting down other questions to the Secretary of State and by raising | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
her issues again. It is not a matter for the chair at what the answer is. | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
I am satisfied the honourable gentleman was orderly in the way in | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
which he gave the answer to the honourable lady. Further to that | :48:53. | :49:01. | |
previous point of order, the honourable lady has said she asked | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
four questions to the Secretary of State. Could the chair give advice? | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
I thought members were only allowed to ask one question. I am delighted | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
to give the honourable gentleman that piece of advice. The honourable | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
gentleman is allowed to ask only one question. But the honourable lady is | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
here this afternoon in her capacity as a spokesperson for the Scottish | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
National party. In that capacity she may ask as many questions as she | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
likes, as long as it takes her only one minute to do so. Order. We now | :49:36. | :49:46. | |
come to the ten minute rule motion. Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Thank you, | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker. I beg to move that leave be given to bring in a | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
bill to make provision for children of the serving members of the Armed | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
Forces to have a right of high priority admission to schools | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
outside the normal admissions arounds. It is an honour to stand to | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
present my first ten minute Law Bill on schools admissions for children | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
of our serving armed forces. Today is the patron Day of Saint Nicholas, | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
the patron saint of children and sailors. Tens of thousands of | :50:20. | :50:33. | |
military schoolchildren. Saint Nicholas is the guardian | :50:34. | :50:34. |