England has been urged to follow Scotland in introducing an LGBTI action plan, with praise for inclusive education policies.

In 2018 the UK Government published a comprehensive LGBT action plan taking in such areas as health, education, safety and the workplace.

However, that ended the following year and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), established by the Council of Europe, has urged authorities in England "as a matter of priority" to adopt a new action plan.

The report points to an action plan developed in Wales and Scotland's 'Building Racial Literacy' programme in Scotland.

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It also praised LGBT inclusive education in Scotland as an example of good practice for Council of Europe member states.

The report made additional recommendations to improve the consistency of recording anti-LGBT and racist bullying incidents in schools, including those that occur using online platforms.

Jordan Daly, co-founder and director of Time for Inclusive Education said: "For Scotland's pioneering approach to LGBT Inclusive Education to be commended by Council of Europe experts in an international report of this stature is significant.

"We met with experts from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) during their member state visit to the UK to provide detailed information about our work, share resources, and answer questions.

(Image: PA)

"Following this scrutiny, ECRI's latest report has praised LGBT Inclusive Education in Scotland as an example of good practice for Council of Europe member states. After years of careful development of an educational model unique to Scotland, this is further validation that the national approach to LGBT Inclusive Education, which aims to both address prejudice and bullying and ensure all school pupils see themselves and their families reflected in their learning, is meaningful and important.

"With school pupils today increasingly exposed to prejudicial content on social media, the classroom has to be a safe learning environment where they can learn about the world around them and the diverse communities in our society. 

"New research released this week from Just Like Us and Votes For Schools has found that 78% of primary school pupils and 80% of secondary school pupils in the UK reported hearing homophobic language, with many of them identifying content on TikTok as a key contributing factor in this behaviour.

"We are currently engaging with international experts on an important new initiative that will provide further sector-leading resources for Scottish schools to address the online disinformation, prejudice, and hate that children and young people are exposed to."

The Council of Europe body also called on authorities to make sure there is no gap in provision for refugees transferring from the asylum support system to mainstream systems of support.

The report highlights recent progress in a number of areas, including efforts to create more diverse police forces across the UK, the launch of a detailed and data-rich website to help develop anti-discrimination policies, and the political support given to Jewish organisations since 7 October 2023.

The ECRI also highlighted some areas for concern across the UK.

It said there was a "drastic increase in hate speech against Jews" following the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, as well as a marked increase in anti-Muslim hate speech.

The ECRI also expressed "deep concern" about a significant increase in violent attacks against businesses owned by people with a migration background and places of worship for religious minorities in Northern Ireland.

It also said UK authorities should review laws and policies aimed at countering terrorism and violent crime to ensure that these do not discriminate directly or indirectly against groups of concern to ECRI, in particular Muslims and Black persons/people of African descent, as well as enhance police accountability in cases of racist misconduct and racial profiling, accompanied by appropriately funded research and other action by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.