Contributions
1,563 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q Professor Whittle, I want to turn again to the evidence submitted by the University of Cambridge, which highlights the tension that the Bill presents in balancing free speech…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (First sitting)Q On that point, would you want to put some kind of balance, or evidence about the balance, within the Bill itself as written, as also recommended by the Free Speech Union?…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Yes—sorry. Smita Jamdar: I may have misunderstood; I do apologise. Yes, that is a concern. Built into certain types of court proceedings—judicial review, for example—is the…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (First sitting)Q Do you therefore include visiting academics as well? Further to that, in the evidence from James Murray, he talks about the Bill as it is currently written almost giving primacy…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (First sitting)Q I would like to return the focus to what is written in the Bill, rather than to re-argue the Second Reading arguments on the merits of whether we should have a Bill or not.…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (First sitting)Q Further to that—I highlight this for Government Members, because they seem to be a little confused about who is covered by the Bill, so I refer to the Taylor Vinters submission…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (First sitting)Q Yes. Just to quote from the submission, “it is arguable that freedom of speech would take primacy over academic freedom when the duty is balanced in practice (i.e. you can read…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q On that direct point—thank you for letting me come in—the Secretary of State said on Second Reading that this “legal route”, the “new statutory tort”, is “an important…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q Would you therefore recommend an amendment to the Bill to make it explicit that local complaints processes should first be exhausted? Smita Jamdar: Absolutely.07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q So you see the bonus as being the advice that is given. Is it not possible for the OfS to give advice on something without having to legislate? Thomas Simpson: I think the…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Because they have the Prevent legislation and much other non-statutory legislation that they are expected to follow. Dr Harris: That is correct. I have not yet seen evidence of…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q You would want it in the Bill. Dr Harris: One thing you could do is to amend the Equality Act in the Bill to state that, in the academic context, universities must have due…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)I was referring to guidance from the Bill, but okay. Dr Harris: It is one option. You can create a duty to have due regard for guidance. That is one option. For universities, it…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q I am going to tie you down to talking about the Bill, because we are running out of time. Your recommendation, therefore, would be for guidance to clarify that possible tension…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Sorry, it is not just the Equality Act. Universities are expected to follow a number of statutory measures and non-statutory guidance. My concern with that—one shared by a number…07 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Second sitting)Q It is interesting, because in some of the evidence that we have had from the universities, they have asked for that clarity. They said that, “absent further clarity in the Bill,…07 Sept 2021HANSARD AfghanistanThe point that I wanted to make to the Prime Minister was about the situation facing Afghan Sikhs. I know from my constituency casework that there are Afghan Sikhs in the system…18 Aug 2021HANSARD AfghanistanI am sure that my right hon. Friend, along with many other Members across the House, has been contacted by people desperately worried about loved ones in Afghanistan. One of my…18 Aug 2021HANSARDIndependent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety ReviewI beg to move, That this House notes the publication of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm; further notes the Government’s failure to…08 Jul 2021HANSARDIndependent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety ReviewI thank everybody who has taken part in this debate, and particular thanks again go to Baroness Cumberlege. May she continue to look over and down upon the Department of Health in…08 Jul 2021