Tag: Baroness Uddin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that all academy schools, their leaders, boards of directors, advisers and heads of department, adhere to all aspects of equality legislation in the UK.

Lord Nash

Academy trusts, and the academies they run, are required to adhere to all aspects of equality legislation. The Department’s model funding agreement for academy trusts, available on GOV.UK, states that the academy trust must ensure the academy promotes principles that support equality of opportunity for all. The Education Funding Agency is responsible, on behalf of the Secretary of State, for holding academy trusts to account for meeting the terms of their funding agreements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current availability of qualified speech therapists at the point of assessment throughout the NHS and community healthcare provision.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Health and Social Care Information Centre annual census data shows that as at 30 September 2014, there were 6,207 full time equivalent speech and language therapists working in the National Health Service in England, this is a rise of 2% since May 2010.

Health Education England (HEE) and the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI) to undertake a stock take of the speech and language therapists workforce in England. The CfWI published Securing the future workforce supply – Speech and language therapy stocktake, in December 2014. A copy of this is attached. The stocktake investigated the current balance of demand and supply for speech and language therapists and explored how this is expected to change by 2025, including those working in the public and private sector.

HEE has increased the number of speech and language therapist training places in 2015-16 to 668, an increase of 3.7% over 2014-15. HEE will take the content of the CfWI speech and language therapy stocktake into account in their workforce planning and future commissioning decisions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current levels of speech therapists recruited from diverse minority communities.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Data from the NHS Hospital and Community Health Services shows that of the 7,836 speech and language therapists (headcount) employed in England as at 30 September 2014, 5.4% are from an ethnic minority background.

We are aware that we need to do more to encourage individuals from a black and minority ethnic background into this rewarding profession. Health Education England (HEE) is committed to meeting its duties under the Equality Act 2010 and is working with external partners to continuously develop their education and training commission’s activities to ensure they are inclusive to all of the whole population.

NHS England is working with partners on the Equality and Diversity Council, NHS Employers, the Leadership Academy and HEE to co-ordinate work in the areas of values based recruitment and talent management to ensure that we can aspire to having a representative workforce at all levels.

We welcome the work that the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists are currently conducting with schools and career fairs in promoting speech and language therapists as a rewarding profession for all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of language classes for Muslim women in respect of radicalisation.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Our new English language offer, worth £20 million over this Parliament, will help women in our most isolated communities get the training they need. This new programme will be informed by six projects we have funded as part of our current community-based English language programme. By the end of March this year the projects will have provided training to 33,500 adults – the majority women, with over half from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Somalian ethnic groups.

Community-based English language programmes can help build women’s confidence in using English in daily activities such as engaging with their children’s teachers, interacting with public services and playing a full part in the local community.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what formal mechanisms they have in place to consult Muslim women.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Government Ministers and officials regularly speak with a range of British Muslim women to seek their views on key issues. The Prime Minister hosted a Community Engagement Forum on 14 January with sixteen influential Muslim women, to discuss their role in Britain today and the importance of tackling issues of forced gender segregation, discrimination and isolation. In addition, four of the cross-Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group’s ten independent members are themselves Muslim women. The Group discusses a range of issues, for example, hate incidents on public transport which disproportionately affect visibly Muslim women.

My Department funds a number of projects that work with Muslim women including community based English language courses, women’s empowerment initiatives and the development of leadership and networking skills. As part of this, my officials regularly engage with the project leads, associated charities and participants on relevant issues affecting Muslim women.

My rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has commissioned Louise Casey to carry out a review on how to boost opportunity and integration in our most isolated and deprived communities. She will report on her findings in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government who are their advisers on matters related to Muslim women.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Government Ministers and officials regularly speak with a range of British Muslim women to seek their views on key issues. The Prime Minister hosted a Community Engagement Forum on 14 January with sixteen influential Muslim women, to discuss their role in Britain today and the importance of tackling issues of forced gender segregation, discrimination and isolation. In addition, four of the cross-Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group’s ten independent members are themselves Muslim women. The Group discusses a range of issues, for example, hate incidents on public transport which disproportionately affect visibly Muslim women.

My Department funds a number of projects that work with Muslim women including community based English language courses, women’s empowerment initiatives and the development of leadership and networking skills. As part of this, my officials regularly engage with the project leads, associated charities and participants on relevant issues affecting Muslim women.

My rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has commissioned Louise Casey to carry out a review on how to boost opportunity and integration in our most isolated and deprived communities. She will report on her findings in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region to allow non-governmental organisations to provide non-formal education opportunities.

Baroness Verma

The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The UK is funding Non-Formal Education via UNICEF in Jordan and Lebanon which is implemented by national non-governmental organisations.

We helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. The aim of Initiative is to improve quality formal and non-formal learning opportunities for children that are out of school. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region.

At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London on 4 February, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, leaders committed that by the end of the 2016/17 school year, 1.7 million children – all refugee children and vulnerable children in host communities – will be in quality education with equal access for girls and boys. This includes enrolment in either a formal school or a non-formal, informal or other alternative education programme that meets national or international standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that teachers, including refugee teachers, are paid appropriate wages and receive appropriate training and support in countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.

Baroness Verma

The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

DFID is not currently financing public sector teachers’ salaries directly in Lebanon or Jordan. However, we helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region. We are working to ensure that each host government considers where and when they can employ and fairly compensate Syrian teachers under their national legal and policy frameworks for both education and jobs.

In Lebanon, DFID is investing £21 million in the World Bank managed Emergency Education System Stabilisation Programme and an additional £1.3 million for the Research for Results: Lebanon Education System Improvement Programme. These programmes support the Government of Lebanon to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its education system including their public expenditure on teachers.

At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference we co-hosted in London, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, the UK and co-hosts worked with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children.

We continue to work with refugee hosting governments, in particular, to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground. This includes a regional policy dialogue on integrating refugee teachers into national education systems, where possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how often they hold community engagement forum meetings, and what the criteria are for selecting participants.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Community Engagement Forums are regularly hosted by the Prime Minister and are attended by different members of communities from across the country. The Forums focus on different themes and therefore participants are invited who have backgrounds in the relevant subject of the meeting.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 28 January (HL5141), who the sixteen influential Muslim Women” were who met the Prime Minister on 14 January at a Community Engagement Forum.”

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Those who attended were:

Sajda Mughal OBE, Managing Director at JAN Trust

Syima Aslam, Organiser of Bradford Literary Festival

Sara Khan, Director and co-founder of Inspire

Diana Nammi, Executive Director of Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation

Aysha and Kiran Iqbal Patel, Directors of Odara

Fahma Mohamed, FGM activist and Trustee of Integrate Bristol

Faeeza Vaid, Chair of ‘Sister 2 Sister’ in Birmingham and Executive Director of the Muslim Women’s Network

Henna Rai, Director for the Association of British Muslims

Yasmin Khan, Director of Staying Put and Aspire-I

Hasina Khan, Chair and founder of Saheliyaan Asian Women’s Forum and Councillor on Chorley Council

Nahid Rasool, Director of Shantona Women’s Centre

Farmida Bi, Head of Islamic Finance and a partner at Norton Rose.

Zahra Al-Alawi, Presenter of Woman’s View on Ahlulbayt TV

Farah Mirza, TV Presenter and previous UN representative for Islamic Human Rights Commission

Sarah Joseph OBE, Chief Executive and Editor of emel magazine