Live Integrated Communities Statement House of Commons

have been looking in recent times to

enhance security arrangements that

have been put in place and we will

continue to do so.

I felt the Prime

Minister and all colleagues who have

questioned her this afternoon.

Order, statement the Secretary of

State for housing, communities and

local of in. Secretary Sajid Javid.

I would like to make a statement on

the government's ambition proposals

to build a stronger integrated

community. Communities where people

whatever their background can live,

work, learn and social lives

together based on their shared

rights and opportunities. The

integrated community strategy Green

paper published today sets out a

bold programme to deliver just this

vision. Mr Speaker, Britain is a

great place to live. We are one of

the world's most successful

multiethnic multi-face ascites and

we should take pride in this

diversity, but as we have seen just

this week with the abhorrent

punisher Muslim letters, there is a

determination among some people to

try to divide us. I would like to

express my support for all of those

who have received these hateful

letters including the honourable

members for Bethnal Green and Bow,

Ealing Central and Acton and

Bedford. While there is a lot for us

to be proud of, there was also more

to do to ensure we have a diverse

society and that a diverse society

does not need a divided one. Into

many parts of our country the norm

is mistrust, anxiety and prejudice.

Things that prevent people from

taking full advantage of the

opportunities that living in Britain

offers. We can no longer dark this

issue if we are to ensure this is a

country that works for everyone. To

that end we have identified five

factors that dry segregation in our

communities. Firstly, too many

schools are segregated, even where

the local population is very diverse

and unregulated settings outside

school can also on occasion expose

children to harmful views. Second,

there is a residential segregation.

In 2011 41% of ethnic minorities

lived in wards where white British

people were a minority, an increase

from 25% just ten years ago. This

reduces opportunities for people to

mix and form a meaningful

relationships with those from

different backgrounds. Third,

disproportionately high levels of

unemployment and economic inactivity

reduced social mobility and can

increase isolation. 60% of women of

Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnicity

are inactive in the Labour market

compared to a quarter of their white

peers. Fourth, according to the last

census, as many as 770,000 adults in

England could not speak English well

or at all. Without a good

understanding of our language it is

difficult for anyone to take full

advantage of the opportunities that

are available and I know this from

my personal experience just how much

difference it made for my own mother

when she learned to speak English

more than a decade after moving here

from Pakistan. And fifth, there was

a lack of meaningful mixing between

people from different backgrounds.

Evidence suggests that black, white

and Asian Britons take up only half

of the opportunities available to

them to mix with people of a

different ethnicity to themselves.

All of which adds up to a conflict

causing increased tensions within

and between communities, with women

and girls often at the greatest

disadvantage. This Green paper sets

out the framework of national

priority actions to address these

drivers are poor integration and a

localised approach to delivering

them. In doing so it sets out how we

will facilitate recent migrant

integration into their communities

and how we will improve community's

ability to increase integration. To

ensure that government is leading by

example, I am asking all Whitehall

departments to review their policies

and to identify areas where they

could do more to support

integration. For example, my right

honourable friend the Home Secretary

will review the life in the UK tests

to see if it can be amended to

strengthen its focus on the

principles of the UK by which we are

all expected to live. On education,

the Green paper includes proposals

to ensure that every child receives

an education that prepares them for

life in modern Britain. This means

giving them the opportunity to mix

and form lasting relationships with

those from different backgrounds and

making sure that they receive a

rounded education which the amounts

British rallies across the

curriculum.

To protect children and young people

from moves which undermine our

shared values, my right honourable

friend the Education Secretary will

also publish proposals to strengthen

the... We will also stand up against

harassment of school leaders who,

having consulted, set reasonable

policies to promote integration.

Unemployment, the Green paper

outlines how Jobcentre plus world

trial new approaches to break down

the barriers to employment and to

support people from isolated

communities into work. However, the

truth is, that you must be able to

speak English to not only find a job

and to prosper, but also to play a

full role in society. Which is why

we are proposing to develop a new

strategy for English language in

England and launch a new

community-based English-language

programme. The Green paper also

takes a robust approach to hate

crime, a vile attack not just an

individual spot on the tolerant and

generous values that underpin

British society. This paper proposes

strengthening local partnerships so

that they can identify and adopt the

most effective approaches to

tackling hate crime and to encourage

more people to report it. But it's

clearly not enough just to stamp out

hate crime. We need to build hope

and stronger communities which the

green paper aims to do through

initiatives such as the integration

innovation fund. This fund will

allow organisations to test out

approaches to bring people together

through shared activities and shared

community spaces. Madam Deputy

Speaker, none of these measures

dilutes the Government's commitment

to protect peoples legitimate right

to free speech and to practice their

religion within the law. Indeed, the

green paper reaffirms this

commitment. But we cannot and we

will not shy away from challenging

cultural practices which are

harmful, particularly for women and

girls. Recent news about the abuses

in Telford highlights just how

important this issue is. Madam

Deputy Speaker, we will also expand

our strengthening faith institutions

programme to help a wide range of

faith institutions to tighten up

their governing structures including

promoting the participation of women

and young people. We will support

training faith leaders to practice

in a British context by ensuring

that they understand the British

legal system, British culture and

our shared values. The recent

independent review of Ejaria law

also recommended amending

legislation to ensure that civil

marriages are conducted before or at

the same time as the religious

marriage ceremony. The Government

shares the concerns which were

raised in this report and a

supportive of this principle and

this recommendation. The Secretary

of State for Justice will explore

the legal and practical challenges

of a limited reform to the law to

reflect this. We recognise issues

play out differently in different

places and for different people. So

we are going to work with five very

different parts of the country.

Blackburn, Bradford, Peter bra,

Walsall and Waltham Forest to

develop strategies to best approach

measures on the ground. The best

approach is to look at integration

measures at the local and national

level so we can assess what works.

It is a sign of a mature society

that we can discuss these issues

without lazy stereotyping or

oversensitivity and I look forward

to a constructive debate with all

those in this House and beyond who

we can focus with and focus on what

unites us rather than what divides

us. Guided by this evidence and an

acknowledgement but we'll have a

role to play, both new arrivals in

making a new life and existing

communities to support them. As the

proud son of immigrants whose

parents worked hard to get on and

give something back, I want everyone

in Britain too enjoyed the same

opportunities to celebrate where

they come from while playing a full

and proper role in British society,

to see people from all backgrounds

mixing freely without fear, to

ensure that everyone, regardless of

whether they are a new arrival they

can trace their ancestry back to the

Norman conquest feels proud to call

this country their home. This Green

paper proposes an ambitious

programme of action across

Government to help achieve just

that. I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and

I'd like to thank the Secretary of

State for his statement and for

bringing to the House the

Government's long-awaited

integration strategy. From the

start, I want to echo his comments

on the punish the Muslim letters.

The people who did this have no

place in our society. We must do

much more in this House to speak

about the power that diversity has

the enrich our lives. In December

2016, we were told that the

Secretary of State was studying the

findings very closely and that the

Government's strategy would appear

in the New Year. 15 months later, I

hope that the delay in publishing

has given the Secretary of State

sufficient time to reflect and

produce a robust strategy. However,

I do welcome his decision to visit

and adult learning Centre in Waltham

Forest this morning, a Labour

council that despite seeing their

budgets slashed are working hard for

the community. The Government has

much to learn from the work they are

doing now. Imagine how much these

vital services could achieve across

the country if they were properly

funded. I know that the money that

the Secretary of State has committed

today to that authority will go far

in supporting the ESO well

programme. Breaking down the

barriers that exist between

communities is the best tool we have

two challenge hostility and

mistrust, so we welcome the

Government's refocus on

English-language provision but these

actions do little to reverse the

massive cuts which have been

lamented by his Government.

According to the House of Commons

library, between 2009 and 2010 and

2015 to 2016, funding for inclusion

in the second language fell in real

terms from 222 million to just 90

million. It is unclear what

proportion of the 50 million will be

used to reverse these cuts, however,

it is clear that it is not enough to

undo the damage. We recognise how

important it is for people arriving

into the UK to be able to speak

English, but cuts to the sector have

left the sector in a dangerous state

of disrepair. Whilst this new

funding is welcomed, we need to go

further. We have committed two

re-establishing the English as a

second language classes and making

them free at the point of use to all

who need them. In her report, Dame

Casey said the problem has not been

a lack of knowledge but the failure

of collective persistent world to do

something about it or to give it the

priority it needs at both national

and local level. It is disappointing

that there is no new policy today,

but rather another consultation for

potential policy and one which is

not being incremented nationally but

amongst a small selection of target

areas. It does seem that that

disappointment was shared by Dame

Louise. On the today programme this

morning she said, it will take more

than 50 million over the years and

it's something the whole country

will have to embrace. The

differences in this country at the

moment are too great and we need

something which heals the nation.

She also said that work has been

done that has often been piecemeal

and lacked a clear programme of

evaluation and again, she was

disappointed in this today. She

again said she had hoped for big,

bold strategies to make seismic

change and you mentioned the rough

sleeping unit that she headed up

under the last Labour Government and

said we ended the need for people to

sleep rough on the streets of this

country and we drastically reduced

anti-social behaviour. I would like

to see coming out of their strategy

something on that level. Also on

this point, I want to add that the

Government need to ensure that the

work they are proposing in the Green

paper is supported with evidence and

has a proper system of evaluation in

place. I would welcome if the

Secretary of State would provide

some details of this today. The

Casey review also refers to the rise

in hate crimes in the EU referendum.

Hate crime soared by 41% after the

vote and I know the Secretary of

State will join me in condemning

those who stoked this violence. But

I am sure he will also agree with me

that there is a need for a greater

level of respect amongst members of

this House because we should be

leading by example on this. On

education, mixing with children from

other backgrounds and religions

throughout their school life is

indeed one of the best ways of

preventing barriers being erected in

the first place. A former number ten

aide said that instead of simply

learning about British values of

tolerance, children should be living

it. How then will the Secretary of

State ensure that children will mix

with all cultures and religions as

the new Education Secretary recently

suggested that he was in favour of

ditching the 50% cap on religious ad

missions to new oversubscribed faith

schools? Also, will he commit to

subjecting independent schools to

community impact assessments? I hope

that today's announcement signals a

new commitment from the whole of

Government by ten integration

innovation fund to make better use

of shared community spaces such as

parks and libraries will do little

for the many communities where the

facilities have glazed as a result

of Government cuts. -- have closed.

This strategy should be a blueprint

for the type of society we want our

children to grow up in. It should be

bold, ambitious, and Dame Louise has

said, it should be backed with

serious funding. So we welcome the

broad thrust of the strategy as an

overdue, small first step. But

despite criticism that it lacks some

of the ambition we would like, we

would like the strategy to be deeper

and wider in its approach, there are

some positive ideas in the

statement. The true test will be

whether there is rigorous evaluation

and whether any successful strategy

is given the backing and the money

to be expanded to all areas. And

that extremism, both Islamist and

far right, can be consigned to

history and that we can go forward

with a diverse, not diverted

Britain. -- not a divided Britain.

Let me first thank the honourable

lady for her comments and for

broadly welcoming the strategy. She

started by mentioning the work of

Dame Louise Casey, the work she has

done for years on this, including of

course the report but she published.

Let me take this opportunity to

thank again Dame Louise Casey for

what she has done and that very

valuable report. Of course that was

an important input into developing

the strategy as well as evidence

from other sources and actually from

what I've seen from Dame Louise

Casey today, she has welcomed this

report. Of course there are things

that she might have done

differently, but she has also

broadly welcome to this report and I

thank her for that. The honourable

lady then went on to mention

English-language and once again I

welcome her support and

understanding that this is a major

issue and we should do much more to

try to support those people who have

settled in our country, those who

speak no or very little English to

learn that language for all the

obvious reasons and you mentioned

the visit, for example, I made today

to Walthamstow, to the Queen 's

grave learning centre, by which I

was very impressed with what I saw

from the way it is run and also the

people that I met who have, within

just a year, led an incredible

amount of English. How they talked

about how it transformed their

lives. I am very supportive of that

kind of activity and that is why I

am very pleased that it is also part

of our plan to help more communities

provide that kind of teaching. She

also mentioned funding for English

language. Of course funding is

important but it is about more than

just funding. What we have committed

to today is first of all making sure

that for the first time there is a

national strategy across all

Government departments, so my

department, the Home Office, the

education Department, all working

together with one goal in terms of

helping people to learn English. And

also making use of community groups

which often can get to those people

that need to learn English in a much

more practical and sensible way than

may be as has been done

traditionally and that is why we are

keen to have these pilot areas, the

five pilot areas which we have

named, to recognise that there is

not a one size fits all policy, that

different approaches will be needed

to achieve the same objectives and

that they should be led by the

evidence and I am glad that she

agrees with us that everything

should be led by evidence. The

honourable lady also rightly

condemned the hate crime of all

types. My honourable friend fact

that the dispatch backs -- stood at

the dispatch box a few days ago to

outline the hate crime strategy and

how we are building on that and she

does speak for everyone when she

says everyone in this House, that

hate crime of any type is

unacceptable and I agree with her

that people in this House should set

an example and that applies to all

sorts of hate crime, hate crime

against Muslims and also

anti-Semitic hate crime as well.

Lastly, she mentioned faith schools

and schooling more generally. She

will recall my statement I talked

about segregation in schools. This

isn't really an issue just with some

faith schools, it is equally an

issue with non-faith schools and in

many parts of the education sector.

That is why I am pleased the

Education Secretary, my right

honourable friend, has agreed to

review what can be done but also to

work with these pilot areas

immediately, starting with these

areas, to see what strategies can be

developed at a local level to try to

reduce segregation which is what I

believe is the first time a

Government has committed to do that.

My very last comment is also to

welcome the fact that she has

recognised this as a whole of

Government strategy, something that

really hasn't been done before by

successive governments to recognise

that almost every Government

department, some clearly more than

others, has a role to play in

building a more integrated and

cohesive society.

First of all can I join my right

honourable friend in utterly

condemning the punisher Muslim

letters. Having read the text of it,

I am so appalled and I hope our

government will ensure the full

force of the law is put in to

finding the senders of these letters

and they are punished and I think

the whole House can join in

condemning the way in which certain

members of this house have been

specifically targeted in such an

appalling way. Can I welcome the

Green paper and also the funding and

the determination of my right

honourable friend to ensure social

integration can be advanced,

particularly by enabling people to

speak English. In my own Muslim

community in cash and I find it is

often the older members of the

community who have not achieved any

fluency in English to any great

degree. They are often women and

they are often not aware of their

rights and come play a full part in

society. What does my right

honourable friend propose to be able

to reach older members of our

communities to enable them to get

the fluency in English they should

have?

Can I join my honourable

friend in condemning the letters,

the hate crime letters that we have

all heard about this week. I can

reassure her that is alive police

investigation and the full force of

the law will be used to find the

perpetrators and make sure they are

punished. She raised the issue of

English language, particularly with

older members of communities and she

is quite right it can be harder with

someone who has perhaps been here

for 40, 50 years and still don't

speak English properly. One of the

things we have seen and we wish to

expand on more to encourage those

people to learn to speak English is

to get people from their community

to encourage them and invite them to

settings that might be familiar and

work with them. It might be a slower

way of getting them into college or

somewhere where they can learn

English, but if it works, we will

support it.

I'd like to stop by

condemning the letters that have

been mentioned and the S&P contains

racism and hate crimes of all kinds.

This government has a cheap.

There is no new money for to Bond

and has been for many years. We also

need to find out what posterity has

done. This government has pandered

to tabloids and stocked up

anti-immigration rhetoric for years.

They should apologise for their part

in this. This is a government of go

home fans, of impoverishing and

making destitute asylum seekers,

preventing them from working which

would aid immigration. As deeming

highly skilled migrants as a threat

to national security. In Scotland we

are working hard on this because it

really matters. Our new integration

strategy for immigrants happens from

day one. We welcome those who have

done us be on art of making Scotland

their home. I want to thank each and

every one of them because we do not

do that enough. The Scottish

strategy consulted over 700 asylum

seekers. We made provisions for

asylum seekers to learn English for

free. We have a Scottish refugee

Council that encourages people to

take a cup of tea with a refugee.

Will the Minister look to Scotland

for help?

It's a shame that the

honourable lady has taken such an

unconstructive attitude. This issue

concerns everyone. It's vitally

important issue and the policies are

setting out today primarily affect

England. There are some issues like

the life in the UK test that will be

UK wide, but despite the attitude

that the honourable lady has taken,

we are ready to work with the

Scottish Government to further our

joint goals of having a more

integrated society.

I commend my

right honourable friend for both his

statement and the manner in which he

has made it. Can I join with others

in condemning the terrible

atrocities that members across this

House have suffered as a result of

hate crime against them. In my

constituency there are 161 languages

spoken in our schools alone. My

right honourable friend will be

aware that the local select

committee conducted a brief enquiry

and we will return to this subject

the game. One of the problems he has

not mentioned however is that

children with help from school

often. Children that are in school

is very rapidly learn English and

they become part and parcel of

society. Children that are withdrawn

from education and do not go to

school often don't pick of English

very quickly, if not at all. It

means they come play the full part

in society. Can you update the house

on what he is going to do to make

sure the people who are withdrawn

from education are properly educated

and mix with other young children so

that they get the opportunity to

integrate into society?

First of

all, can I commend my honourable

friend for his remarks and also take

note that he represents one of the

most diverse constituencies in the

country and its richer and

contribute stronger for that. He

raised the issue about English and

schooling and he is quite right.

There are some people and evidence

has shown that people are abusing

the fact that they can take their

children out of school and send them

to other institutions. We have

committed to a review of the

guidelines on home-schooling and the

requirements to have all schools

registered and also to look at the

powers of Ofsted.

I welcome the

Secretary of State's proposals,

particularly in relation to Bradford

where we met recently. Bradford is

doing some great work around

integration, but the truth is his

government's ups of over 130 million

to ESOL has decimated the local

infrastructure to deliver on these

plans he is talking about. What

assurances can he give me that my

city will not be left with this

shoestring budget to deliver this

vision of his?

First of all we share

the same goals. I know she cares

deeply about this and we have spoken

about these issues before. Bradford

is one of those areas that is one of

our pilot areas. We've already

started work with them and there

will have access to new funding. We

want to work with them to innovate

and listen to their ideas because

they are the people on the ground

dealing with these issues day in day

out. Right to point out resources.

They are important, but also

practices and how it's done are

equally important and we want to

learn from that as well.

On Sharia

councils, how do we protect people

who are ignorant of their rights and

who are subject to peer pressure?

A

very good question from my right

honourable friend. Once he gets a

chance to look at the Green paper

more closely he will see that we

have set out a programme of how we

want to make sure more people,

including imams in mosques and

others, are making people aware of

their rights and where we had to

take direct action, so to prohibit

something such as the example I gave

earlier regarding the change in

marriage law to make sure that women

are not being abused and taken

advantage of, we will not hesitate

to do that.

There was much in the

direction of this to support and the

Secretary of State is right also to

refer to this central importance of

women in developing the strategy. I

have seen locally some superb

examples of best practice, including

working with supplementary schools,

working with parents through sure

start centres and other forms of

outreach including the kind of peer

to peer Ricci has referred to, but

he is wrong to say that this is all

about more than money. Local

authorities have to have the

capacity to sort this out reach work

and ensure that weather is through

community groups through local

councils themselves that they are

able to do this. What we make sure

that councils have the resources

that they need to turn what is a

conceptual vision around integration

into practical reality?

Can I be

clear, I'm not saying money is

unimportant. Of course proper

funding is essential, but equally,

using that funding appropriately in

the most efficient way is just as

important and she refers to examples

around the country where councils

and community groups have done good

work and we should all learn from

that.

I'm very grateful for the

secretary of state's statement

today. Again, I want to talk about

the importance of women,

particularly as they, too, educate

their children. What work has he

done to look at how he can reach out

to them in a health care setting so

that those messages as he outlined

in his statement cut across

government? I mentioned earlier that

this is a cross government strategy.

That includes working with the

Department of Health and in putting

this together we have looked at what

ways there are, so for example,

either through local councils or

community groups to make sure that

people, particularly women are aware

of their health rights. As Universal

Credit is being rolled out by DWP,

more people are coming into contact

with the system, registering for the

first time and were able to look at

ways we can use the information to

help more people and especially

those that have perhaps other

services they can use to make sure

they get those offers. We've heard

all this from governments in the

past, including this current

government. How can we guarantee

this will make a difference and when

is the government gave to address

the issue that people for legitimate

and sensible reasons choose to live

segregated lives? What is the

government going to do to make them

integrate rather than choose

segregation?

We should not be

allowing people to choose to live

segregated lives. It's not something

that will help them in the long

term, especially is not good for

them all the rest of society and

that's at the heart of this strategy

that we set out. We can't force

people to integrate, of course not,

but the government can do a lot,

working with local government,

community groups and others to

encourage people to integrate. He is

right that governments in the past

have tried this and have had some

successes, but I believe this is the

boldest most far reaching strategy

ever presented by any government. I

unreservedly condemn the hateful

letter sent to Muslim MPs, including

the honourable member for Bedford in

my own county. In South West

Bedfordshire we have wonderful

examples of the traveller

communities. Children are in school,

we get the parents into work. Can I

remind both secretaries of state

that the race disparity audit shows

that the traveller community has the

worst outcomes. Our planning policy

does not help in this respect,

providing unnecessary separation.

The Secretary of State assure me

that this very welcome proposal will

also include the traveller community

to make sure they are properly

integrated for the benefit of

everyone?

I can assure my honourable friend

that when we do about integration,

it's about all communities,

including of course the travelling

community. He is right to point to

the race disparity audit and the

important piece of work which showed

these disparities, especially when

it came to education, standards from

the travelling community and how

they are not where anyone would want

them to be. We are taking action

both through the race disparity

audit work but also my honourable

friend might be aware that we will

shortly publish a consultation on

planning issues regarding the

travelling community.

Can I start

off by thanking the Secretary of

State for his condemnation of the

literature that I received and other

colleagues received and members of

the Muslim community received. I

also welcome the tone of his

statement because in the past,

certain kinds of proposals were

often reflected in a way that

stigmatised leading communities,

particularly the British Muslim

community, and can I ask him whether

he agrees that they are fundamental

to promoting integration is to

provide security and protection to

minority communities so that they

have the confidence to live together

with others. In many parts of the

country, particularly those in small

numbers, and given the rising level

of hate crime, people do not still

have the confidence to do that, so

as part of the programme, I welcome

the cross Government strategy to

make sure that protection and

protection against discrimination is

something which gets high priority,

along with the other measures.

First

of all, can I again contemn these

hate crime -- condemn these hate

crime letters which other than do so

many people but including the

honourable member and other members

of this House. It is totally

unacceptable in every way and I want

to assure her that the authorities

are doing everything they can divide

the perpetrators and make sure they

are punished for what they do. She

is also correct about the point she

has made giving people protection

and confidence. I have seen examples

of that myself throughout my life

but especially as I've been doing

research in preparing this green

paper and in fact even today, the

visit I made to Waltham Forest,

showed me again from a number of the

women I met, it was raped to hear

how they have built up confidence to

meet others, -- it was great to hear

how they have built up confidence to

meet others, to learn English and

meet up.

My ride honourable friend

is aware of my political background

in the London Borough of Tower

Hamlets and my concerns about the

integration and oversight of portion

of those children being home

educated. While appreciating the

work and dedication of the genuine

home educating community, would he

consider implementing a ban on the

home education of children in

houseboats in which a member of that

household has been convicted of any

-- in household in which a member of

that household has been convicted of

any terrorism or hate crime related

activity?

Firstly, can I thank the

honourable member for the work she

has done to promote community

integration in Tower Hamlets. She

raises the abuse of the right that

is rightly given of people to home

educate and my right honourable

friend the Education Secretary will

review the guidelines for home

education and particularly look at

those instances where there is

evidence of already where people

claim to be home educating their

children but in fact what they are

doing is sending them to

unregistered, unregulated schools,

which is clearly a bad outcome for

their children.

I broadly welcomed

this strategy at the opportunities

it provides to Bradford to become a

more cohesive place for all that can

I urge the Government to make sure

that its aims and ambitions are

matched by sufficient funding to

make them a reality? Also for the

Secretary of State to recognise that

the root cause of many of these

problems is the lack of opportunity.

There are too few good jobs, low

levels of educational attainment and

ultimately too many people living in

poverty. Because if we truly want

more integrated communities, we have

to deal with these fundamental

issues.

The honourable lady is right

to raise the issues and the

importance of opportunities and how

having a more integrated society

will help with that, particularly

learning English, but it's a lot

more than that. It's about other

skills required as well. It's good

that we have a strong economy with

more people employed than ever

before, including more women than

ever before, that is a prerequisite

but there's a lot more to do and I

hope she agrees that the strategy

helps.

Thank you, Madam Deputy

Speaker, and I join with colleagues

in condemning the letters received

by other members of this House. When

they attack one member of this House

to do their job, they attack all of

democracy. During my time in

Coventry, I saw what faith

communities can do. I spoke in

temples about my faith and also

heard from other faith groups. What

role do you see faith groups playing

in delivering their strategy?

My

honourable friend gives me the

opportunity to thank so many people

from every faith that brings so many

people together. I have seen so many

examples myself, whether it is

through schools or masks -- and I

hope that they will bid for some of

the funds so that they can see how

they can enable others to do what

they are already doing.

I endorse

all the comments that have been made

about the appalling letters. I very

much welcome this strategy not least

because it incorporates so many

points already made an integration,

but I also welcome that the

Secretary of State recognises that

integration is a two-way street and

doesn't fall into the trap of seeing

integration as a conflagration of

counterterrorism. It is so important

that we recognise that the three

quarters of a million people that he

refers to who are not fully fluent

in English, we emphasise that they

want to learn English. The fact that

they don't know English well is not

because they don't want to. Just

like his mother, they want to

learning Dutch. The second point is

that much of our discourse across

the House today have looked at

divisions along racial lines,

immigration lines and divisive lines

but it goes beyond that. There are

major divisions between the

different generations and most

importantly we cannot forget the big

divisions between socioeconomic

classes in our country, too, and I

hope of his strategy you take that

on board and look that integration

in that holistic way, bringing in

all the characteristics that

sometimes divide us from each other.

On the whole, I think this is a very

good move from the Government.

The

first of all, let me thank the

honourable gentleman, not just for

the comments that he made but for

the work that he's done as chair of

the APPG on integration and the

report he referred to, when it was

published, I read it carefully and

it has helped me and my team to

develop the strategy today so I very

much welcome the work he does and

continues to do on this very

important issue. He is also right to

emphasise that this is a two-way

street. I very much agree with him

on that. It's very important, as

well as emphasising that this is all

about integration and community

integration and building that

cohesion and not about extremism.

There are two questions about people

learning English and wanting to

Leningrad. There will be a small

minority that don't see the

advantage, but -- and wanting to

learn English, there will be a small

minority that going to the

advantage, but it is our job to show

them why there is an advantage. As I

saw this morning in Waltham Forest,

all the women I met, so they were so

eager to show off how were they

could speak English after just a

year. He is absolutely right in his

final point about breaking down the

divisions and taking what he

described as a holistic approach and

not through a narrow window and I

very much agree with him on that.

Can I thank the Secretary of State

for his statement. As someone who

grew up in Northern Ireland in the

1970s, I remember how important it

was, the voluntary society helping

to reach out across communities.

Madam Deputy Speaker, during the

Afghanistan war, there were many

brave local people who helped

support the British Army acting as

translators and some of them needed

to be evacuated for their own risk.

Three families came to Chelmsford.

The men, the fathers, spoke English

but the three women didn't. And the

local women in Chelmsford reached

out and started an English for women

project. English for women meets

three mornings a week now, there are

many dozens of families and women

that help, there are lots of retired

teachers who help across

communities, across faiths. It's a

fantastic example, so would my right

honourable friend consider visiting

this and would he consider also

helping to twin these organisations

with other volunteer organisations

across the country?

First of all, I

will absolutely consider visiting

Chelmsford and learning for myself

about English for women. It sounds

like they've done fantastic work and

I think lessons can be learned by

others, but I would also encourage

them to make application for our new

innovation fund, because I think

they could very much do without

help.

You might be forgiven for

wondering what on earth this member

can have to say about that matter,

but nevertheless, in my constituency

we have had a large number of Polish

community members who have lived

amongst us and a very great

contribution they make to our

community. I want to turn to the

police force. Police Scotland has

worked extremely hard to build up

the confidence of the Polish

community and today I think I can

say that that is very important to

highly effective policing. So with

the Secretary of State agree with me

that this is crucial in other parts

of the UK as local police forces

have the confidence of ethnic groups

and they build on that confidence,

with action taken by the Government

where possible.

I very much agree

with the honourable member on the

importance of making sure that the

local police force, whomever that

maybe, is seen as very much a part

of the local community. After all,

in this country we police by consent

and that's a very valuable principle

and it means making sure that all

communities feel the police are

there for them. It is something I

have discussed with the Home

Secretary and I do something I know

she sees as equally important.

I'd like to echo the sentiments made

by my colleague, the honourable

member. Tim, and I would like to ask

what impact assessment has been made

on funding for the five pilot areas,

because one of those is my

constituency of Peter borough and I

know the Secretary of State has said

that he doesn't want further

division, so I wish to ensure there

is funding there for us.

It sounds

like the honourable lady welcomes

that Peter borough is one of the

areas and it's good to see because

we started working with them a while

back and we are very keen to work

with them within the department. As

well as working with them on ideas,

each initiative that they have put

in -- and that they put in place

will have to be properly funded and

we look forward to working with them

on that basis.

Can I welcome the

money being given to my borough of

Waltham Forest and can the Secretary

of State -- had the Secretary of

State given me more than an hour's

noticed this morning, I would

happily have met with him this

morning when he met my local men and

women. At the would have told him,

I'm sure, that we reject the dog

will --. Whistle politics as these

integration as a one Way St. We

would also have told him that the

challenge to integration that we see

in our borough is not just about

being able to speak the same

language, it's also about having the

time to put down the route I get to

know each other. Something that

spiralling rents and house prices

put at risk. Will he commit in

moving forward to tracking what

impact housing tenure has an

education and when you join with all

of us in the King at how we can have

longer and more secure tenancies to

give people the opportunity to know

that good neighbours can become good

friends?

Yes, I can give the

honourable lady that assurance. Let

me apologise if you only got one

hour 's notice. That is completely

unacceptable. I was hoping to see

how there but now I know where that

was not possible. She can be assured

that I was very impressed by what I

saw at the Queens Road learning

Centre and I met council leaders

there as well responsible for the

programme and I would like to see

more of that activity across the

country, not just do more than

Forest and the pilot areas. She is

also right about the issue of

helping people to put down roots and

to learn from other members of their

community. For example, one of the

examples I saw at the learning

centre as well as the second

language learning centres was a chat

group not just about learning

English but making friends and

making them more comfortable within

their local community.

Can I welcome this statement and

indeed invite the Secretary of State

to the jewe will in the Crown of bad

ford. A day's notice will be fine,

to view progress at a later date.

Does the Secretary of State agree

with me it's particular important

that parents in Keighley and

Bradford can speak English to guide

their children at school and their

choice of friends and choice of

careers and so on. It's important

that churches and mosques that

promote the value of family life get

behind this promotion of English

teaching?

I thought you were calling

me Anna there, Madame Deputy

Speaker. Can I agree with the

honourable gentleman about the

importance of mosques and churches,

temples and faith institutions and

the role they can play in, not just

serving their faith communities, but

also in building that cohesion. As I

mentioned in an earlier question,

I've seen many examples of that.

When it comes to learning English

and encouraging those that might be

reluctant they have an important

role to play.

Thank you very much.

My apologies to the Secretary of

State. I've just heard that

Roundhill Primary School issued a

letter to all its parents because

some of their Muslim families have

received these horrible, hateful

letters. I know he'll join me in

expressing his complete condemnation

of that. Would he also agree with me

that that is hate. But actually a

lot of this stems from two twin

problems of ignorance and blied

prejudice and we should all of us,

which ever community our lives

touch, do everything that we can to

get rid of that ignorance and

prejudice that in its extreme form

that ends up with people sending

horrible, hateful and actually very

seriously criminal offensive

letters.

Well, first of all, can I

condemn whoever may have sent the

letters to the parents of her

primary school in her constituency

and extend my support to those

parents. And what she has outlined

goes to the heart of this strategy

today, which is to, for everyone to

recognise that when we reduce

segregation, build a better

integrated society it builds more

trust between people and it helps

them to get on better and to put

aside any prejudices that they might

have had. That's why it's so

important we see this strategy

through.

Thank you, Madame Deputy

Speaker. Funding cut since 2010

would be a big way of improving

integration. I was really pleased to

see the Secretary of State for

Education on the Treasury bench

during this statement because I want

to ask about home education. I want

to know if the Secretary of State

can say a little bit more about the

approach he thinks is likely to be

adopted because the last time

parliament discussed home education

and regulation, his party took a

very firm view they didn't want to

have any regulation at all. So it's

interesting to note that it seems

the frontbench may have moved on

that. I would be interested to know

a little bit more about that.

Well,

Madame Deputy Speaker when it comes

to home education the first thing to

recognise is it's a valuable and

important right and that won't

change. There are many examples of

excellent home education. Of course

we welcome that. We have seen sadly

examples, and some have been

reported recently, were the home

education has led to a bad outcome

for those children and has not

helped them, but it hasn't helped

wider society. That's why the

Government, across government, the

work that was going to be led by my

right hop rake friend the Education

Secretary. He will review the

guidelines on home education and

also make sure that all children

that are being home educated are

properly registered. At this point,

there is no register of who is being

educated at home and to make sure

that those rights that are very

valuable to home education are not

abused but, at the same time,

they're protected.

Thank you, Madame

Deputy Speaker. Can agree with the

Secretary of State on the role of

faith groups in the pursuit of

integration. Would he join with me

in congratulating the Well Project

in my constituency which helps

refugee and asylum seekers integrate

through the provision of English as

an additional language and through

women and girls leadership. I have

to say on a practical level to the

Secretary of State, since Government

privatised the refugee and asylum

resettlement things have gone

backward. There isn't integration

with the rest of civil society. We

will have to work ten times as hard

to catch up with the model we used

to have.

The honourable gentleman

raised the issue of resettlement. He

might be interested to know one of

the policies we will be reviewing

through this green paper is the

support that is provided to people

that rightly, legitimately settle in

this country, but the support that

is provided on a long-term basis. We

have tended to have approach under

successive governments when people

have their leave to remain they are

left alone, on their own and having

an approach where they are

constantly provided information.

That #24e are helped along with that

process, perhaps the process that

will lead to citizenship is very

important. I'm pleased the Home

Secretary will be revealing that.

Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker.

I'd like to congratulate this House

and cross-party total condemnation

of the vile messages that has gone

out to some of our colleagues. There

is no place in this country for such

prejudice and hate. I'd like to tell

the Secretary of State broadly I

welcome this national strategy and

I'm extremely pleased that Blackburn

will be a pilot. As I'm sure he is

aware, there are a number of

fantasticing cases of good examples

were the communities have integrated

and they are working towards it. I

have spent my whole political life

working on integration and Coele

heegs for Blackburn. It adds value

to the town and adds value to the

people and it makes it a better

place to live and work. Can I

clarify from the Secretary of State

of how the resources will be uzed

because of course tackling just

integration, we also need to tackle

the social economic issues that are

there. I would plead with the

Secretary of State to come to

Blackburn and share some of the

experiences our communities have got

to show.

First of all, Madame Deputy

Speaker, let me take the opportunity

to thank the honourable lady for all

the work she has been doing for

Blackburn long before she was a

member of this House as former

leader of community cohesion

integration. It's worked well-known

to my department and ministers but

also amongst wider communities that

have looked at Blackburn. She has

set a real example. I want to take

the community to thank her for that.

It's one of the reasons why

Blackburn is a pilot. She mentioned

social economic resources. What the

paper talks about are the resources

for interrogation what it will help

do is leverage in other funding

available for skills, perhaps

through DWP or through the Education

Department and others and that's an

important way I think to look at the

resource that is will be available.

Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker.

Madame Deputy Speaker, as chair of

the all party group on refugees I

welcome this government's

integration strategy as

rerecommended one in our inquiry

last year. I will send the Secretary

of State a report of that inquiry

that looks at refugees who want to

work and contribute to our economy

to the country that granted them

asylum. Will the Secretary of State

meet with me and discuss the points

in that inquiry finding as to how it

relates to his