The Government has today (Tuesday 7th February 2017) released its official response to the British Youth Council’s Youth Select Committee Report – ‘Young People and the Issues of Racism and Religious Discrimination’. In an unprecedented move, the joint response has been issued by three departments including the Department for Education, Home Office and Department for Communities and Local Government. The response states the Government’s commitment to building ‘a country that works for everyone’.
The joint Government response, which offers an answer to each of the Youth Select Committee’s recommendations, makes a commitment to support schools to produce their own codes of practice, bringing together the various statutory duties and policies, to set out the principles for a whole school approach to inclusivity and tolerance. The Government has also welcomed Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton’s proposal to the establish a national hate crime advisory group.
The response follows the Youth Select Committee’s inquiry which considered both written and oral evidence and concluded that racist taunting was being dismissed as banter in schools across the UK. In the report, published in November 2016 the Committee offered recommendations pertaining to the level and quality of awareness and education in schools, the prevalence of racism and religious discrimination and how organisations and young people are attempting to tackle it, how the issues can be tackled at a local level by communities and how tackling racism and religious discrimination should be approached at a national level by the Government.
Throughout the inquiry, evidence was gathered from a range of witnesses, including charities, young people, academics, Ministers and education professionals. The inquiry was triggered after the issue topped the UK Youth Parliament’s Make Your Mark ballot in 2015 of 969,992 young people in the UK.
The Youth Select Committee have made it clear that in order to tackle racism and religious discrimination changes must be made to the PSHE syllabus. Despite not agreeing, the Government have stated they are ‘actively considering the case for further action on PHSE’, a message which represents a change in tone in the Government’s response on PSHE lessons.
During the inquiry, which took place in the wake of ‘post-Brexit racism’, the Government published their Hate Crime Action Plan which looks to focuses on reducing hate crime, increasing reporting, and improving support for victims. The Government have made it clear that they are invested in tackling racism and religious discrimination, and the British Youth Council will be looking to the Government’s response to the Casey Review, which is due to be released in Spring 2017, to see what steps the Government
Bronagh Hughes, Chair of the Youth Select Committee said:
“The Youth Select Committee welcomes the Government’s swift and comprehensive response to our report published late last year, ‘Young People and the Issue of Racism and Religious Discrimination’, and is particularly appreciative of the cross-departmental nature of the response we have received.
“Whilst we do wish that more of our recommendations could have been supported, we were particularly pleased to read of the Department of Education’s consideration of further action on the teaching of PSHE, and the Government’s welcome of the establishment of a national hate crime Independent Advisory Group for young people. These are issues that are very important to all members of the Youth Select Committee.”
Find out more about the Youth Select Committee
Download the Youth Select Committee Report ‘Young People and the Issues of Racism and Religious Discrimination’
Download Government response to Youth Select Committee Report ‘Young People and the Issues of Racism and Religious Discrimination’
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For media enquires or to interview a member of the committee please contact:
Rhammel Afflick, Communications & Media Officer
rhammel.afflick@byc.org.uk | +44 (0)20 7250 8376 | +44 (0)79 85 260 337
For inquiry related queries please contact:
bycyouthselect@parliament.uk
Notes to Editors
- The Youth Select Committee is a British Youth Council initiative, supported by the House of Commons. The eleven committee members are aged 13-18 and include two Members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs), two youth councillors, a Young Mayor, one elected representative from each of the devolved nations and three reserved seats.
- The British Youth Councilis the National Youth Council of the UK. A youth-led charity, we empower young people aged 25 and under to influence and inform the decisions that affect their lives. We support young people to get involved in their communities and democracy locally, nationally and internationally, making a difference as volunteers, campaigners, decision-makers and leaders.
- The Youth Select Committee took evidence over two oral evidence sessions and received written submissions from 67 contributors. Witnesses included teachers, young people, charities, academics, service providers and the Mayor of Bristol.
- Committee Membership is as follows: Bronagh Hughes, 17, Northern Ireland Seat: Chair of the Youth Select Committee, Elif Emma True, 17, Youth Council Seat: Vice Chair of the Youth Select Committee, Rhys Barnes, 18, Member of Barnet Youth Board, Otis Skitch, 17, Member of Youth Parliament for Torbay, Opprah Manyika, 19, Other Representative Seat, Neil Kotre,17, Other Representative Seat, Namir Rahim Chowdhury, 18, Other Representative Seat, Martin Gallacher, 17, Scottish Seat: Member of Scottish Youth Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart, Jonathan Quin, Young Mayor of Surrey Heath, Brahmpreet Kaur Gulati, Member of Youth Parliament for Leicester and Emily Jones, 14, Welsh Seat: Caerphilly Youth Forum.
- Media spokespeople are available on request throughout the day. To organise interviews please email press@byc.org.uk
- The Youth Select Committee’s report ‘racism and religious discrimination’ was published on Wednesday 16th November 2016. You can find the report here: https://byc2016.wpengine.com/uk/youth-select-committee/reports
- Professional images of the Youth Select Committee, including individual portraits, group shots and photographs of witnesses giving evidence are available to download here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/albums/72157667962269053. (Please credit all photos UK Parliament/ Jessica Taylor).
- Further information about the Youth Select Committee is here: byc.org.uk/youthselect