My Lords, many faith schools are high performing and
achieve consistently high exam results. I am happy to join
my noble friend in congratulating Yavneh College. Many of
the best schools focus on well-being as an intrinsic part
of their job, so I welcome the initiatives highlighted by
my noble friend. Promoting well-being can help prevent
problems arising or escalating, ensuring that both the
school and pupils are provided with the tools they need to
achieve the best results.
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Extracts from Westminster
Hall debate on Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit:
Two-child Limit
(Glasgow Central)
(SNP):...There is also a disproportionate hit on
particular minority groups. The Equality and Human Rights
Commission has found that families of
Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin are
particularly badly hit by this policy, losing thousands of
pounds. For years now, I have been flagging up concerns
that 60% of Muslim families and 52% of Jewish families have more
than two children. There are also concerns, as my hon.
Friend the Member for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan)
mentioned, among religious faiths that will not use
contraception for moral reasons and clearly cannot access
abortion services. Therefore, they have very little choice
in the decisions that face them...
(Weaver Vale)
(Lab)...I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the
work of the all-party parliamentary group on universal
credit, which she chairs. Is she aware of the figures that
show that 60% of Muslim children and 52%
of Jewishchildren live in families
with three or more children? My hon. Friend is doing a
great demolition job on this Government, who balance their
books on the backs of the poor...
Mr (Bury South)
(Ind):...We know that the Government are targeting
minority and religious groups with this policy. In my
constituency, the Haredi community will be the hardest hit.
There is a substantial differential impact on religious
communities for whom family size is determined by beliefs
and for whom culture is also a determining factor. That was
omitted from the Government’s impact assessment, and the
Minister might want to respond to that in his concluding
remarks. Some 31% of all children live in households with
three or more children. For families of
the Jewish faith, the proportion
is 52%; for families of the Muslim faith, it is 60%; and we
know that many families of the Christian faith also have
three or more children. We do not expect that those
families will change their behaviour because of this
policy, which significantly penalises them for their
religious beliefs. What has it come to when a Conservative
Government are attacking the concept of
religious freedom in our society, which is precisely what
this policy does? I know that sometimes people do not like
talking about faith, but we should say that the concept of
religious freedom is central to British values. This policy
goes right to the heart of undermining that principle, but
it was not even part of the Government’s impact assessment,
which is absolutely shameful...
(Weaver Vale)
(Lab):...Earlier this year, 60 Christian, Muslim
and Jewish religious leaders
strongly condemned the policy, arguing that it sent a
message that some children matter less than others.
Disappointingly, however, some do not share that view. The
former Work and Pensions Secretary, the right hon. Member
for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith),
described it as a “brilliant idea”, and believed that it
would force claimants to make the same life choices as
families who are not on benefits, and incentivise them to
seek work or increase their hours. We have heard from this
debate that it is certainly not a brilliant idea. The
claims about life choices and incentives
show nothing but disdain for the people and families who
our welfare state should be supporting and show no
understanding of the precarious reality of the world of
work for many at the sharp end...
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