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Terrorism and Community Relations

: I should be absolutely delighted; it is my intention to include women in the road show. The group that involved women was also excellent, with some good and constructive ideas. Women can reach people, including families, and have a huge influence. The second positive proposal that we are taking forward is a national advisory council of imams and mosques. Again, it will not be dictated to by the Government telling people how they should follow their religion, but led by the community and supported by Government. How do we get a proper curriculum and make sure that people have support for training? Many more imams are now trained in this country, and they not only express their religion in English but have a real understanding of the issues that face young people in particular in complex and difficult world in which they need to make their choices. The third idea that we are definitely taking forward is a national forum against extremism and Islamophobia, which will provide a forum for people to come together again and discuss how to tackle them. There is also the issue of how we give those involved capacity, and we recently announced a capacity-building fund for all faith communities; we have £5 million, and a bidding programme is under way now. We will make it as simple as we can to ensure that we get the money out to people and build their capacity to engage with the mainstream political process. If we say that the way to resolve our problems is through democracy, which we do, and that there is never an excuse to resort to violence, it is absolutely key that we make our democratic institutions and systems accessible so that people see that it is worth while getting involved in the political process, whether at local, regional or national level, and that that is the way to ensure that action is taken. Strengthening that belief in democracy is hugely important. The hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) raised some important issues. He asked whether we have shared the legislation with the community, and we have. We are in constant contact through many of the working groups that we have set up, and particularly the tackling extremism working group. We also have specific consultation going on about how we tackle extremism in places of worship. Again, that is predicated not simply on closing down places of worship, but on how we focus powers on the extremists and empower decent people in the community to take action. That consultation ends in just a couple of weeks' time, and we shall return to the issue. The hon. Gentleman mentioned deportations and exclusions. There have been no deportations as yet, but a whole range of people are in custody on the basis that they are a threat to national security. We have signed two memorandums of understanding with Libya and Jordan and are keen to press on to ensure that we have sufficient undertakings so that we can make the deportations. On extradition, we shall try to agree protocols for strict time limits. We do not necessarily want a statutory time limit, because if we were one day over the limit on someone's extradition, they would have to be released. We are getting proper protocols for each stage of the process so that we get those time limits in place. That is really important. Many Members raised the issue of anti-Semitism, and I am pleased that they did, because it is absolutely unacceptable. My hon. Friend the Minister for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning has pursued the issue in relation to universities. Anti-Semitism, and indeed any similar action against a person, is clearly to be deplored. As my hon. Friends have said, academic authorities and student unions have a real responsibility, and we can help and support them in that. My hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) raised the issue of anti-Semitism and responsibility. He also raised the issue of clerics with outrageous views, and he will know that we have set out new guidelines on activities that we would consider not to be conducive to the public good. We will be taking those guidelines forward as well to ensure that people do not come here and peddle the kind of hate-filled views that we have heard all too often. My hon. Friend the Member for Keighley mentioned Hizb ut-Tahrir. Clearly, it does not fall within the current criteria for proscription and it was not included in the list of proscribed groups that we took through the House last week. One provision in the Terrorism Bill relates to whether glorification should be grounds for proscription, and other organisations will be examined, although I will not comment on particular ones. My hon. Friend made some very good points about involving women, and I pay tribute to her for the sometimes difficult stand that she has taken on such issues. She has been very honest and straightforward. I do not have time to comment on all the points made by the hon. Member for Aylesbury, but he has clearly thought carefully about the issues. He mentioned prisons, and I can tell him that we have more than 100 accredited imams going into prisons, and proceedings are monitored carefully. The hon. Member for Leeds, North-West (Greg Mulholland) clearly takes a personal interest in these issues. I simply say that every one of us has a responsibility to ensure that we talk about them openly and honestly and tackle some of the difficult problems. When I went to my meetings during the summer, I was perfectly happy to engage on issues of foreign policy, and we cannot shy away from that. When we talk about Iraq, however, we must also remember that Muslims are killing Muslims there. Many Muslims were also killed under Saddam Hussein, so I cannot accept the hon. Gentleman's point—