Anti-Semitism and intolerance have no place in our society and no place in higher education. Staff and students from all backgrounds, cultures and communities must be welcome in our higher education sector.The UK has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks to protect people from harassment and abuse, and specifically racial or religious persecution. This framework provides protection to the Jewish community alongside other ethnic and religious groups. As independent organisations, higher education institutions are directly accountable for compliance with the law and hold the primary responsibility for ensuring that their staff and students are not subject to threatening or abusive behaviour on campus.In addition to legal requirements, institutions have access to a range of practical guidance to help them ensure fair treatment of their staff and students, and to help them deal effectively with instances of intolerance, racism and harassment in their institutions.The Government expect institutions to vigorously tackle intolerance on campus when it arises.I have met the Union of Jewish Students to discuss anti-Semitism in higher education and assured them that the Government continue to take this issue seriously, and expect universities to use the tools they have to tackle anti-Semitism.We have seen a fall in the number of incidents in higher education, from 44 in 2010 to 27 in 2011, according to the Community Security Trust. However, no incident is acceptable in higher education, or elsewhere.