INTERFAITH FORUM FOR LEICESTERSHIRE: HATE INCIDENT MONITORING; ENGAGEMENT & REPRESENTATION OF FAITH COMMUNITIES

At County Hall, Glenfield (seat of Leicestershire County Council), for a meeting of the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire.

The topic this evening is in two parts: Hate Incident Monitoring and Engagement and Representation of Faith Communities. The former is addressed by Sally Penney, Hate Incident Monitoring Project Co-ordinator at Leicestershire County Council), the latter by Chino Cabon (Senior Race Equality Officer at The Race Equality Centre).

The meeting is opened by Peter Lewis (Chairman of Leicestershire County Council), Chaired by Suleman Nagdi (Spokeman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations) and wound up by Resham Singh Sandhu (Chair of the Sikh Cultural and Welfare Society).

The Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire is less formal in nature than Leicester Council of Faiths, which allows it to be free from the need for formal membership, more open to input from those attending its meetings and more amenable to suggestions from any interested party for future topics.

There are 30 attendees this evening - a decent number for early Monday evening. I can't help wondering, though, if the turnout will have been affected by the fact that the Council of Faiths held our most recent meeting on a very similar topic, less than six weeks back, on Hate Crime and the Criminal Justice System at the University of Leicester. One of this evening's speakers spoke then. It would be a pity if that were so, as the approach taken to the subject this time round could be considered complementary. Chino, who spoke at the earlier meeting, gives a distinctly different talk this evening. There are around 185 hate incidents (which are different in nature from hate crimes) related to religion or belief reported in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We should continue talking about this subject until that reduces to nothing.

RESPONSE TO DRAFT POLICE & CRIME PLAN

Here's the text of the Council of Faiths response to the draft Five Year Plan proposed by the recently elected Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Clive Loader.

As well as writing and submitting this response from our organisation, I've contributed to the writing of a collective response, to be submitted in association with our colleagues at Leicester LGBT Centre, Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living and The Race Equality Centre

***

Response to Police and Crime Commissioner's draft Five Year

George M Ballentyne,

Equality & Diversity Officer,

Leicester Council of Faiths

Having searched the electronic version of the draft plan throughout, looking for relevant terms such as “faith”, “religion”, “place of worship”, “church”, “mosque”, “temple” etc., I was disappointed not to find any of them included.

I searched every conceivable variation on these terms and the only mention of any of them to be found was the use of the word “religious” twice, both times in connection to “racially and religiously motivated hate crime” (p.23). Even this slight mention gave cause for concern: under the new legislation embodied in the Equality Act 2010, race and religion are deemed distinct “Protected Characteristics”. Lumping the two of them together like this appeared a backward move, not in keeping with the change in legislation and public recognition.

So on even the most cursory reading, the draft plan makes no reference to any faith communities, or to any organisation representing anyone or anything to do with religion or belief. This is particularly disappointing for two reasons:

1. Firstly, absence of acknowledgment of the need to engage actively and positively with the city’s diverse faith communities – their places of worship and related community centres (numbering close to 300 and steadily increasing), the growing number of faith schools, the many festivals spread across the year.  Each of these communities, organisations and premises – as well as those responsible for the many public occasions – has worked hard over many years to establish, maintain and develop good relations with police at all levels. They each have particular sensitivities and vulnerabilities that need to be recognised and addressed, as well as distinctive strengths and contributions that should be acknowledged and accommodated. This is a certain kind of community policing that Leicester has become good at. Its omission from the draft plan could make it appear that all this hard work is not valued and may well go to waste under a new regime.
2. Secondly, absence of recognition that as well as giving so much to the celebrated diversity of the city, these communities, organisations, premises and events present potential flashpoints in terms of criminal behaviour and disruption of social order. Whether seen in the two recent visits by the English Defence League, in the on-going tension around ownership and use of Thurnby Lodge Community Centre, in the armed attack on the Moghul Dharbar restaurant in East Park Road or around the much-publicised issues of sexual exploitation, there is a new hardening of attitudes, a testing of relationships, a willingness to point the finger – and to take unilateral action, in word and deed – against, among and between communities that is altering the environment of peaceful coexistence in the city.

Faith communities and organisations can be engaged in the plan not just on crime related to “religion or belief” (e.g. religiously aggravated or motivated hate crime), but in other ways too. Places of worship, community centres, infrastructure organisations related to one particular faith (e.g. British Hindu Voice, Christians Aware, Federation of Muslim Organisations, Leicestershire Sikh Alliance) or related to a variety of faiths (e.g. Leicester Council of Faiths), opinion formers, influential figures, spokespersons and activists play an important part in all aspects of relations between police and community – and none of that seems to be recognised or included in the plan. These functions work in both a softer context in everyday terms and in a “harder context (e.g. role played during visits by English Defence League. Faith-based organisations are also experience and interested in rehabilitation work and can contribute much to cutting down re-offending.

The draft plan gives no indication of who should speak for or about the faith communities and issues of policing and crime that affect them – and on which many of them can make positive contributions. If only Voluntary Action LeicesterShire is to represent  the voice and interests of these communities and organisations (as well as those of every other voice and interest in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector) then Leicester Council of Faiths – and the communities and organisation with whom we work – would consider that an inappropriate and ineffective way to engage. Several years ago, when the Leicester Strategic Partnership set up its system of Host Organisations to represent the many “communities of interest” in the city, Voluntary Action LeicesterShire sought to be an all-encompassing “mega” Host Organisation, bidding to cover all the Protected Characteristics of age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. It was not considered fit to do so in the end and the Host Organisation were picked from among user-led organisations (ULOs) all of which were (and still are) working on the ground with the communities they would claim to represent. From the Council of Faiths’ point of view, VAL at that time had no specialist knowledge, experience or interest in the area of religion or belief and no personnel working with the faith communities. Nothing has transpired in the intervening period to make us believe that VAL has the capacity to undertake that role now. We can only speak for this matter as it relates to our specialist area of religion or belief – but we wish to make it clear, in no uncertain terms, that (I believe, in common with our colleagues in other ULOs in the city and county) we would not have confidence in VAL to perform this role in way outlined in the draft plan. We would urge direct engagement with ULOs, preferably in partnership alignment. 

In a new specification that runs initially to the end of 2014, Leicester City Council has commissioned the following activities from Leicester Council of Faiths:

• To promote trust, understanding and co-operation among faith communities and organisations in Leicester, working collaboratively with Leicester City Council and other strategic groups and partnerships to achieve this.
• To disseminate accurate information about the beliefs and practices of the diverse faith communities of Leicester, working collaboratively with Leicester City Council and other strategic groups and partnerships to achieve this.
• In pursuit of these activities, Leicester Council of Faiths is to deliver the following outcomes, all of which would be relevant and useful in the context of the Police and Crime Plan:

• Offer a collective voice for the city’s faith organisations and the communities they serve, ensuring that issues of religion or belief are given appropriate consideration within the policies and operations of the City Council (and other strategic groups and partnerships), leading to improved design, delivery and monitoring of services.

• Provide a central point of contact for the City Council (and other strategic groups and partnerships) on behalf of the city’s faith organisations and the communities they serve, ensuring that issues of religion or belief can be addressed in an effective, sensitive and timely manner.

• Assist faith communities and organisations in Leicester more fully to engage in the life of the city in general.

• Ensure dissemination of accurate knowledge of the beliefs and practices of the city’s diverse faith communities and organisations, in order to increase trust, understanding and cooperation among them (and between the city’s diverse faith communities and the general public in Leicester). 

Leicester Council of Faiths is working with Leicester City Council as a partner on issues relevant to section 4.3 of the draft plan. Leicester City Council wants to use “using lines of communication between and within faith communities and organisations to improve design, delivery and monitoring of services”.  This same approach can be adapted to serve the purposes of the Police and Crime Plan. As a practical example, Leicester Council of Faiths is working with Leicester City Council on places of worship and faith-based community centres as focal points of “resilience” (see p. 30). It would make sense, as an example of “joined-up working” to match these needs and outputs. It would make sense for Leicester Council of Faiths to be taken on as a “resilience partner” in terms of the plan. There are many references in the draft plan to “working with partners” that could be seen as applicable to working with Leicester Council of Faiths. These include the following:

• “the Force already has an excellent reputation for working with our partners who play their own critical part in helping to reduce crime” (p. 51)
• “working with partners to solve locally identified problems” (p. 5)
• “working with partners to prevent and tackle crime and re-offending” (p. 9)
• “shared strategic priorities to tackle with our partners” (p. 11)
• “working with partners” (in relation to terrorism, p. 29)

OPEN MEETING: HATE CRIME & CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

This evening the Council of Faiths hosts an open meeting, "Hate Crime and the Criminal Justice System", at the University of Leicester.

This is the fourth in a series of such meetings, on topics of interest to people from all sorts of communities across the city. I've posted on this blog about the three earlier meetings:

• Faith in Family, 20 November 2012
• God in My Faith, 13 March 2012
• Open Meeting with City Mayor, 31 January 2012

Despite extensive preparations for this evening, we haven't produced signage (note to self: do that for any future meetings we hold on campus), and it's easy to miss the entrance to Lecture Theatre 3 in the Ken Edwards Building if you haven't been here before. So I spend the first half hour outside at the top of the pathway, rounding up stragglers. It's cold (the gritters are out already) but worth it, as I redirect more than half a dozen people who appear to have missed the venue - including one of the speakers.

A panel of four distinguished, experienced and knowledgeable speakers have been invited to address the topics of Hate Crime and the Criminal Justice System from their own perspectives (professional and personal), then answer questions from the audience. Each of the speakers had a different perspective to offer (professional and personal) and it would be fair to say that not all of the speakers agreed on how these such crimes - and the underlying attitudes that allow them to persist - are treated in society. But such differences of opinion and approach are aired in a courteous manner and lead to some thought-provoking discussion.

Detective Superintendent David Sandall at the podium

First speaker: Detective Superintendent David Sandall, Head of Safeguarding and Lead for Hate Crime, Leicestershire Police.

Neil Chakroborti at the podium

Second speaker: Neil Chakroborti, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Leicester and Director of the Leicester Hate Crime Project.

Chino Cabon at the podium

Third speaker: Chino Cabon, Senior Race Equality Officer, The Race Equality Centre - demonstrating his mastery of the double karate chop emphasis there.

Luman Ali at the podium

Fourth and final speaker: Luman Ali, Secretary, Federation of Muslim Organisations. Luman stepped in at late notice for Suleman Nagdi, Chair of the Muslim Burial Council for Leicestershire and PR Officer for FMO.

The Rt Revd Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, had accepted the invitation to chair the meeting, but has to withdraw, due to ill health. Tony Nelson, who had taken responsibility for organising the meeting, chaired in Bishop Tim's stead. Tony (who represents the Leicester Hebrew Congregation on Leicester Council of Faiths) is in the centre of the photo below, flanked by the speakers.

There are 50 attendees (not counting the speakers and chair), many of them representing communities, groups and organisations with first hand experience of crimes committed against their members on account of disability, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation among a variety of reasons. More than one person spoke about the effect of belonging to a group which has been unfairly accused of perpetrating hate crime.

Light refreshments are served at the end of the meeting, allowing attendees to mix, mingle and network for a further half hour. Another note to self: take greater care to clean up after eating oily finger food. When putting away our generic pop-up banner, the thing slips from my grasp and takes a bit of a doing, leaving some visible damage. That's the first such hit that any of our banners has taken in more than four years of regular use.

We're grateful to those agencies which backed up this event with their own personnel, resources and time, such as Victim Support, whose display is shown above.

All photos posted here were taken by Ambrose Musiyiwa (Civic Leicester). Ambrose recorded two videos of the proceedings this evening: one of the main presentations by the four speakers and one of the Q&A that followed them. They are now available on YouTube. Our thanks got to Ambrose for his tireless support!

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IS SUBJECT OF TALK

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Criminal justice is subject of talk

A conference about hate crime and the criminal justice system is being held at the University of Leicester tonight.

Hosted by Leicester Council of Faiths, it takes place in lecture theatre three, in the Ken Edwards Building, University Road, at 7pm.

Speakers include Chino Cabon, of The Race Equality Centre, Neil Chakroborti, a senior lecturer in criminology, Suleman Nagdi, chairman of the Muslim Burial Council of Leicestershire and Detective Superintendent David Sandall.

To attend, call 0116 254 6868 or e-mail: info@leicestercouncil offaiths.org.uk

REDP DISCUSS COLLECTIVE RESPONSE TO DRAFT POLICE & CRIME PLAN

A meeting at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) this afternoon with colleagues from the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) to formulate a collective response to the draft five-year plan produced by Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Clive Loader.

As well as LCIL itself and Leicester Council of Faiths, The Race Equality Centre (TREC) and Leicester LGBT Centre are represented here today.

This is the second time we've got together recently to talk about the draft plan. We met collectively (along with a few other VCSE participants) at TREC last month, when we spoke to face-to-face with Sir Clive and members of his team. I'd read the plan through and made some extensive notes before that meeting and was able to make what I hope were some salient points. But not everyone who was there then had been able to read, digest and comment on the plan. So we thought it best to meet at this later date and put together a united response. That approach has always served our organisations well in the past and we have confidence that it should do so in this context too.

We each have certain things to say about our own areas of interest and expertise, as well as highlighting issues around more general equality matters. So we'll all be contributing to this collective response. Chino Cabon, Senior Race Equality Officer at TREC, is going to write it on behalf of the four organisations and submit it to Sir Clive before the deadline in a couple of weeks. Sir Clive has scheduled a revision of the plan in September as part of its life cycle. We hope that our comments will be considered for that - and that we'll be involved in further consultation and discusion.

MEETING WITH POLICE RE EAST PARK ROAD INCIDENT

A meeting at Mansfield House Police Station this evening, called at short notice by Leicester Council of Faiths in association with Leicestershire Police, to discuss the recent incident at the Moghul Durbar restaurant in East Park Road.

There are 30 people attending this evening, with much wider representation than just the Council of Faiths. By my reckoning, there are six Sikh groups or organisations represented, three Muslim, two Hindu and one Christian. There are four City Councillors and three police officers. The Race Equality Centre (TREC) is also represented. Nine of those attending are members of Leicester Council of Faiths; both members of staff (Ajay and myself) are present too.

After introductions round the table, Fayyaz Suleman (Vice Chair, Leicester Council of Faiths) sets the tone,  explaining why the Council of Faiths is involved and what it can do in relation to this situation - at this meeting and, with attendees' consent and involvement, afterwards.

As far as this meeting is concerned, Fayyaz explains that the Council of Faiths and the police hope that those present will voice their concerns as individuals and as members of their respective communities and organisations; that we'll be able to receive a briefing from the police on the current situation; and that we can chart our way forward to serve the best interests of all communities, promoting cohesiveness throughout the city - not just for those directly affected.

Fayyaz then hands over to Rob Nixon, City Centre Commander, who outlines three specific topics on which he wants to speak:

1. The current state of the police investigation into the incident (including an accurate description of the incident itself as it was first reported to the police; how the police responded; what actions have been taken by the police since the incident; what the police intend to do next)
2. Wider issues on which some communities feel vulnerable (to do with protection of children and young people)
3. How to move forward, who to engage from within the faith communities and the wider city to ensure a genuine multi-agency approach that has as positive an outcome as possible.

Below are some of the key points that I note from Rob's presentation and the discussion that follows. I have not included specific details about the police investigation. These are available from the police in a variety of formats and sources.

• The police have to secure the trust and confidence of communities, families and individuals, following due process. Everyone involved has to understand that this can't be done overnight and that patience is required.
• We must move away from profiling any of our communities as predator and prey or representing the relationship between any of our communities as that of victimiser and victim
• This horrific incident is also an unasked for opportunity for people of diverse communities to come together and make common cause for a positive and progressive attitude to the issues that provoked this incident.
• We all have to help steer the narrative away from any sense of condoning the behaviour of people taking the law into their own hands.
• There needs to be a general realisation that the police are dealing with criminal behaviour, not a faith-based issue - especially not of one community set against another
• Faith community leaders, spokespeople, workers and activists should be seeking ways to join with professionals, working across faith and cultural  boundaries to protect young and vulnerable people of all communities
• The faith communities and organisations, individually and collectively, have a responsibility to take heat out of the situation via platforms within communities including their own media, mainstream media, social media, broadcast and print media in community languages
• There should be regular, frequent meetings between collective representatives of faith communities an organisations with police, the first of these being in a month's time

Closing the meeting, Cllr Manjula Sood (Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) assured all those present that our prayers and thoughts are with those who were injured in the incident, their families and friends.

This afternoon I'd been twice by BBC Radio Leicester, with a request to go live on air tomorrow morning to speak for the Council of Faiths about the East Park Road incident and about this meeting with Leicestershire Police. Given the sensitivity of the issue, I couldn't help thinking that it might be better for an Executive Officer of the Council of Faiths to appear on the radio this time. I'd sent an email to the officers before this meeting voicing my concerns and asking that we make a decision, so that I could get back to the station with the name of the person who would speak. At the end of the meeting, our Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and I agree that I should do it. Rob, Fayyaz and I put our heads together for five minutes and agree the general content and tone of what I should say. I phone Radio Leicester just after 2200 and set up an interview by phone for just after 0800 tomorrow morning.

As we're leaving, Fayyaz passes me a draft statement about this evenign's meeting which will be useful in dealing with the media and other interested parties:

"Leicester Council of Faiths facilitated a meeting with faith leaders, the local community and police representatives. The meeting unanimously condemned the criminality involved in the incident and all have agreed to work to communicate with their grass roots communities that everything should be done to support the police investigation. They also agreed to dispel any myths and rumours among the public. The group agreed to meet regularly and assist each other in keeping Leicester united against hate and crime."

DISCUSSING IMMIGRATION & INTEGRATION ON BBC RADIO LEICESTER

This morning I'm at BBC Radio Leicester, to take part in a live radio phone-in with Jim Davis. This is part of BBC Radio Leicester's Uganda 40 season, that has been running for the past couple of months. Jim has held a phone-in each morning this final week of the season. The topic for today's final programme is "Immigration and Integration: What is the Future for Leicester?"

Given the number of times I've appeared on BBC Radio Leicester, you might be surprised to learn, faithful reader, that this is my first live phone-in. I'm one member of a panel, the others being Richard Bonney (former Professor of Modern History at the University of Leicester) and Surinder Sharma (Chair of The Race Equality Centre). That's the panel in the photo below.

Those who call in during our hour on air offer their own reflections on the impact and significance of the influx of Ugandan Asians 40 years ago, as well as soliciting our comments.

• Jean (in Leicester) says she admires the drive to succeed in Asian communities, especially how parents want their children to make the most of their lives;
• John (in Birstall) asks for our responses to Ted Cantle who said in a recent talk at Secular Hall that multiculturalism is past its sell-by date;
• Bhupinder (in Rushey Mead) reminds us that those Asians who came from Uganda in 1972 weren't the first to come here. She says that her husband arrived in Leicester in 1959 (the year I was born!). In a nice analogy about immigration, she says that people tend not to mind a light drizzle or sun shower - perhaps they won't even put their umbrellas. But when there's a sudden downpour ... and we British do love to complain about the weather!
• Jean (in Oadby) says that she organised an English Teaching Scheme for new arrivals, which began in 1974 and ran to the mid-1990s;
• Lee (in Braunstone) is the only caller who takes a contrary position to the general tone of the show, and has to be cut off by Jim, mid-flow.

Whatever multiculturalism means, it is under attack as never before. Those who appreciate, celebrate, understand and value it are idealists and optimists in outlook and beliefs, pragmatic and practical in our work.

Certainly, a lively interest and involvement in multiculturalism, with its attendant topics of immigration and integration which we have discussed here today, require the challenging of stereotypes. Every ethnic, national and racial group suffers from stereotyping, my own included. In the end, I'm a member of the human race, a citizen of the world. I'm not a rabid Scot; I don't eat haggis or drink whisky (though I do drink Irn Bru). I never went on the march with Ally's Army nor can I condone the pointless resentful bashing of sassenachs. I lived the first half of my life in and around Glasgow, the second half in and around Leicester. I'd like to think I do my best to combine good elements from north and south of the border. Leicester is my home. I love the place and couldn't imagine living anywhere else now. I'll do whatever I can, in my life and work, to help make Leicester a better place for everyone who lives here.

REDP CORE PARTNERS MEETING

At Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living this morning, for a meeting of the four Core Partners of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership. The Core Partners, all Leicester-based Voluntary and Community Sector organisations, are: 

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We used to meet on the first Tuesday morning of the month, but haven't done so since the funding for this project ended, in June this year.

It soon becomes apparent that there's life in the old dog yet, though. We spend the first half-hour or so catching up on what our particular organisations have been doing since last we met, where we are now, and what our futures might hold.

Our attention is focused on the forthcoming Choice Unlimited event, to be held at Leicester Tigers Stadium, Wednesday 21 November (1000-1800). The first Choice Unlimited, held in April this year, presented information, ideas, innovation, services, products for disabled people. It was an unexpectedly successful occasion, exceeding all our expectations in terms of interest and support. The November event will focus on the same sort of things, but for young people in what's called the "transition period" (14-25 years of age).

Since Choice Unlimited is taking place in the middle of Inter Faith Week (18-26 November) I'd assumed that the Council of Faiths (and, more specifically, I) wouldn't be able to take part in it, but I'm glad to say that we've come up with a plan for having a celebration of Inter Faith Week inside Choice Unlimited itself. Since I have to make sure that our exhibition in Highcross is kept going all that day, I'm not quite sure how we'll go about this, but where there's a will ...

I'll play as active a role as I can in promoting the next Choice Unlimited, through our various outlets - beginning with taking a clutch of fliers and posters to the AGM of Network for Change at the Guildhall this evening.

SETTING RELIGION OR BELIEF EQUALITY OBJECTIVES FOR LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE

At The Centre, Alfred Place, this evening for a public meeting organised by The Race Equality Centre (TREC): "Setting Religion or Belief Equality Objectives for Leicestershire Constabulary". The meeting is led by Darren Goddard, one of Leicestershire Constabulary's Diversity Officers (on the right in the photo above).

Is Leicestershire Constabulary able to deliver equality for people of different religions or beliefs? Are all the people of Leicestershire:

• Equally safe from violence?
• Equally safe from burglary?
• Equally stopped by the police?
• Equally recruited by the police?
• Equally treated by the police?

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on Leicestershire Constabulary to plan to be able to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination between people from different religions or beliefs,
• advance equality of opportunity for all religions or beliefs,
• and foster good relations between people from different religions or beliefs

The plans that the Police publish should be based on consultation with those communities that could be unfairly treated. This public meeting has been organised to provide an opportunity to meet police representatives and propose equality priorities that the police should implement to meet their Equality Duty. The meeting is open to representatives and practitioners from all communities or organisations of religion or belief and to everyone with an interest in addressing inequality on the grounds of religion or belief.

At the start of the meeting, we're shown a YouTube clip, Leicestershire Police: Taking a Look Back at 2011 (which I saw previously at the Chief and Chair meeting on Thursday 12 January 2012). Darren builds on themes in this presentation, concentrating on relations between Leicestershire Constabulary and faith communities, places of worship, community centres - as well as considering how individuals who identify with particular communities of religion or belief are treated if they're detained in police custody.

We discuss the possible impacts of new arrangements for an elected Police and Crime Commissioner, coming later this year. There's genuine concern and anxiety (verging on alarm) at this development among many in the room. Some of those here are learning of this for the first time and express anxiety about how much candidates for the post might know about their communities. It sounds like a good idea for faith communities to organise a hustings!

There's also concern that Leicestershire Constabulary's Equality Objectives for Religion or Belief should be determined by such a small group as is gathered here this evening. There are a dozen attendees, among us Bahá'ís, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and a couple with no particular religious identity (broadly speaking). Well, that illustrates the importance of engagement and participation! At least one other meeting of a similar nature is to take place in Loughborough and recommendations can be made electronically for a while yet. But the invitation to participate has been extended, even if it's been at fairly short notice. You can lead a horse to water ...

 We're each given a booklet showing Leicestershire Constabulary's employment statistics 2008-2011, which breaks down figures in terms of Protected Characteristics, including Religion or Belief. Here's that part of the booklet:

Within the Constabulary's HR system there are 37 different religions and faiths that staff have self identified. For the purpose of this publication we have collapsed the different denominations in the 20 main headings.

There is an active association of Muslim Police, Christian Police Association and Sikh Police Association within the organisation which receives organisational funding and support. The faith based support networks are involved in a number of key organisational meetings and provide support to all staff on a range of faith based issues. In addition the networks actively make links with different faith groups in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

There is also a multi-faith and contemplation room which is supported by the Leicester Council of Faiths within the Headquarters complex. The room which is open to all officers, staff and visitors has washing facilities and separate storage facilities for each faith to store religious texts and other items.

The figures show that for those police officers who have chosen to record their religion or belief 92% have identified as following a Christian based faith, followed by 1.7% identifying as Atheist or Sikh and 1.6% as Hindu or Muslim.

For those police staff who have recorded their religion or belief 85% identified as following a Christian based faith, whilst 5.6% are Hindu, 2.3% Sikh and 2.1% Muslim.

76% of those Special Constables who chose to record the religion or belief identified as following a Christian based faith, 14% Hindu, 3.5% Muslim and 2.1% Sikh.

Police officers

• Agnostic 16
• Atheist 28
• Buddhist 2
• Christian 1,479
• Hindu 25
• Jehovah's Witness 0
• Judaism 1
• Muslim 25
• Sikh 28
• Other 1
• Non-recorded 642

Police staff

• Agnostic 16
• Atheist 14
• Buddhist 0
• Christian 760
• Hindu 50
• Jehovah's Witness 3
• Judaism 1
• Muslim 19
• Sikh 20
• Other 4
• Non-recorded 613

Special Constables

• Agnostic 2
• Atheist 2
• Buddhist 0
• Christian 108
• Hindu 20
• Jehovah's Witness 0
• Judaism 0
• Muslim 5
• Sikh 3
• Other 1
• Non-recorded 103

EQUALITY ACT TRAINING FOR SOUTH DERBYSHIRE CVS

Chino Cabon delivers

At Goseley Community Centre, Hartshorne, Derbyshire, this morning, delivering training for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP).

I'm here with Chino Cabon, from The Race Equality Centre (TREC), one of REDP's four Core Partners. We're presenting on the Equality Act 2010 at a staff development day for South Derbyshire CVS. There are 27 attendees, a mix of paid staff and volunteers.

Chino (in the orange shirt, photo above) takes the first session, giving an hour-and-a-half long overview of the Equality Act: its history (including the decades-long back story of equality legislation in this country); innovations and extensions (what's new and what it retains from previous legislation); what's lawful and what's unlawful under its provisions; who it protects and who's responsible for its enforcement.

I do something half that length focusing on disabled people and the Equality Act. Not my specialist area, that's true, but it's part of the deal at REDP that we're able to double up for each other and cover all the Protected Characteristics.

Chino's presentations are always encyclopaedic and rooted firmly in the texts. Mine tend to be a bit looser. Variety is the spice of life! I use five scenarios, affecting or involving disabled people, of the kind that those here may have experienced in their own lives, or of the type which may have been brought to them for advice or guidance. The scenarios are taken from Disability LIB's handy Equality Act Toolkit.

As soon as my session is finished, we dash off back to Leicester, so I can get to the meeting of REDP's Core Reference Group at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living. We're leaving just as lunch starts here; we'll probably arrive just as lunch ends there!

REDP HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR: MANSFIELD

At Mansfield Community & Voluntary Service this morning, delivering the third in a series of seminars for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) on the Human Rights Act 1998.

Strictly speaking, the part on the Human Rights Act is delivered by Chino Cabon from The Race Equality Centre (TREC), while I present a Beginners Guide to REDP.

The purpose of these seminars is to help Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations appreciate the relevance of the Human Rights Act 1998 to their mission, to understand its relationship to equality and diversity issues, as well enabling them to take part in the current debate about the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and replacing it with a new UK Bill of Rights. These topics will feature prominently in REDP's next regional event, in Derby, 22 March.

Gathered in Community House this morning are 8 people, representing  four  VCS organisations and one public authority service provider (spot the out one out):

• Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service
• Disability Derbyshire Coalition for Inclusive Living
• Enable Housing, Care & Support Group
• Peak District Volunteering Advancement
• Rethink

This was a good meeting, a positive experience for (we hope) all who took part. It certainly was for Chino and me, although the fact that we got involved in a crash at the roundabout outside Glenfield Hospital on the outskirts of Leicester rather took the shine off things at the end. Ouch!

REDP HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR: OAKHAM

At Voluntary Action Rutland, Oakham, this morning, delivering the second in a series of seminars for the Regional Equality and Divesrity Partnership (REDP) on the Human Rights Act 1998.

Strictly speaking, the part on the Human Rights Act is delivered by Chino Cabon from The Race Equality Centre (TREC), while I present a Beginners Guide to REDP.

The purpose of these seminars is to help Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations appreciate the relevance of the Human Rights Act 1998 to their mission, to understand its relationship to equality and diversity issues, as well enabling them to take part in the current debate about the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rgihts and replacing it with a new UK Bill of Rights. These topics will feature prominently in REDP's next regional event, in Derby, 22 March.

Gathered in The Gower Centre (photo above) this morning are representatives of ten VCS organisations:

• Ann Craft Trust
• British Deaf Association
• CLASP: The Carers Centre
• Diocese of Peterborough
• Fawcett Society
• Leicester Secular Society
• Norton House
• Open Door Leicester
• South Lincolnshire VCS
• St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society

LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL BUDGET CONSULTATION

At Leicester City Council, B Block, New Walk Centre, King Street (Directorate Meeting Room, 8th floor) for a consultation meeting on the City Council's proposed budget. Not far to travel from the site of my last meeting this time, as it's in the very same room.

This meeting has been convened by Irene Kszyk, Corporate Equalities Lead at Leicester City Council, to give invited representatives of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations the opportunity to discuss concerns about  the City Council's budget proposals and the summary equality impact assessments in each of the service areas.

As well as Leicester Council of Faiths, there are four other organisations round the table, meeting with Irene:

• Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• The Race Equality Centre

Collectively and individually we make a number of observations and recommendations, that Irene can take away and incorporate into the next stage of this process.

REDP CORE PARTNERS MEETING

This morning we have the regular monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners: 

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet, as usual, at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project. Our meetings are normally held in the office of LCIL's CEO. That's now Steve Cooper, since Dee Martin retired at the end of November last year (see blog entry for 30 November 2011). When I go into the office, much to my surprise, there's Dee! After a moment of confusion on my part, she tells me that she's been coming in every so often, just to tie up some loose ends.

I haven't seen Dee since her retirement do, but I have to say, she's looking well for it. She looks years younger, in fact. Retirement is clearly good for her. Ah, “retirement” … that will be a thing of the past by time I'm ready for it, of course.

REDP CORE PARTNERS MEETING

This morning I’m attending the monthly meeting of the Core Partners of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). Leicester Council of Faiths is one of these four Core Partners, along with:

• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project.

Today we're joined by members of our Working Group, bringing them up to speed with our exit strategy as REDP approaches the end of its initial funding period and on our plans and prospects for sustainability in the medium and long term. This is following up on the meeting of Core Partners last Wednesday morning (see blog entry for 7 December).

This isn't our only topic today, of course. We discuss the remaining three regional conferences that we plan to hold in the first half of 2012, the topics for which are:

• Human Rights (led by The Race Equality Centre)
• Hate Crime (led by Leicester LGBT Centre)
• Localism (led by Leicester Council of Faiths)

These will be spaced about eight weeks apart and each one will be preceded by a short series of seminars in six different parts of the East Midlands.

We also discuss how to set a consistent tone for the public projection of REDP. As well as adhering to a list of inappropriate words and phrases that we hope would never pass the lips of anyone doing anything, anywhere, on behalf of REDP, we'd like to do something that would help define our values. My part in this will be to draft a brief statement regarding the positive dimensions of identifying with one or more of the Protected Characteristics enumerated in the Equality Act 2010. More often than not, identification with a Protected Characteristic is presented as having a negative impact on individual, family and community life - as if being rid of this, that or the other Protected Characteristic would only beneficial. As if (say) a black person's life would be made better if they had been born white; as if a gay person (for instance) would invariably be happier if they were straight; as if giving up one's culture, heritage and identity as a Sikh (for example) would lead to more success in this world. This is ridiculous and patently so. No doubt that belonging to any identifiable group can lead to discrimination, harassment, persecution or victimisation - and we would never deny that that's the unfortunate and unacceptable reality of life for many. However, the solution is not to aspire to some bland, featureless, flavourless "norm" of being British. What on earth would that be like - and who on earth would say that is them, or wish to be like that? This would help differentiate our approach to diversity (after all, it's in our name) as well as affirming our commitment to equality.

REDP EXIT STRATEGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

This morning REDP's Core Partners are meeting at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, to consider our Action Plan for an exit strategy and sustainability when our initial period of funding ends in June 2012.

Leicester Council of Faiths is one of these four Core Partners, along with:

• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We consider our current position, plans and future prospects under the following broad categories:

• Policy and Procedure
• Audit and Performance
• Workforce and Training
• Accountability and Scrutiny
• Health and Safety
• Training and Equality-Proofing
• Website
• Research
• Market Profiling
• Project Delivery
• Seminars and Events

You'll have to make do with that for now. I'm not giving the game away at this stage! You'll just have to keep up with developments.

REDP CORE PARTNERS TAKE STOCK

Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) is the venue for this morning's meeting of the Core Partners of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) with Dennis Fisher, Grants Officer at The Big Lottery. It's The Big Lottery's Basis Fund that bankrolls REDP and Dennis is charged with overseeing our project. We've met with him several times in different settings over the past couple of years; he's here today to talk about our work so far and how we're going to make progress in the final year of this intial funding period.

Round the table for this meeting with Dennis are the Chair of REDP, Iris Lightfoote (The Race Equality Centre), Dee Martin (Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living), Ian Robson (Leicester LGBT Centre), Laura Horton (Project Manager, REDP) and myself, of course, representing Leicester Council of Faiths.

Ian, Iris and I are here until lunchtime, to join in an overall discussion of the project. Dennis spends the rest his visit with Dee (since LCIL is the accountable body for REDP) and with Laura.

We all get the chance to speak this morning; Dennis asks me directly about the "diversity" dimension of REDP.

There's a convivial atmosphere in the meeting today and our funders seem pleased with how REDP has performed.

REDP CORE PARTNERS MEETING

This morning we have the monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners. Apart from Leicester Council of Faiths, the Core Partners are:

• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• The Race Equality Centre

Our normal meeting place is Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, the "accountable body" for this project.

The regular Core Partners meeting is normally a fixed point in my monthly calendar. I’ve only missed a couple since REDP began - and then only under abnormal circumstances. I did miss the last of these meetings though (Tuesday 2 August) because I was helping run the Council of Faiths stall at the pre-launch event for Leicester Speaks 2011 in Gallowtree Gate. I had the kids with me that day and it was a good setting for them to dash about on their scooters - as you'll see them do, faithful reader, if you visit the video interview with me on YouTube.

That was such a lovely day. Warm and sunny, it seemed the very height of summer. Hard to imagine it was only one month ago. It's blowing a gale today.

The Core Partners meeting goes until till 1330. Soon after that, we're joined by members of REDP's working group, which is charged with getting its sleeves rolled up and doing most of the actual work between meetings of the Core Partners. I'm the only member of the Core Partners who is also on the working group.

We're still discussing some important aspects of our ongoing work when I have to leave LCIL at 1430, to head on up to the Quaker Meeting House on Queens Road. I have my next meeting of the day there in half an hour.

REDP meets with One East Midlands

This morning some of us from REDP meet with Rachel Quinn and Leann Leverton from One East Midlands. It's not anything formal, no set agenda; but we've been trying to find the time to get together and mull over a few things where our interests intersect.

We meet in Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL): Round the table are Iris Lightfoote from The Race Equality Centre (TREC) and Chair of REDP; Dee Martin of LCIL; Laura Horton, REDP Project Manager - and me.

We talk about the new Transforming Local Infrastructure programme from The Big Lottery; the Localism Bill currently going through Parliament; the White Papers on Open Public Services and on Giving. These all have major implications for equalities.

REDP had been intending to hold a regional event on the Localism Bill in October. Public consultation on the Bill ends in September and it's going to be published in November, which makes October too late to be a consultation event and too early for an information event. We're planning three other regional events at two-month intervals, so we've decided to swap Localism's place in the schedule for one of the others. We'll make arrangements for a special meeting of REDP's Core Reference Group in time to get their views on the Bill so we can compile them into a collective response.

This is of special interest to me, since I'm leading on the Localism regional event.

REDP briefing no. 5

At Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) this morning, where I'm helping present a briefing on the work of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). This is the fifth in a series of six meetings held over the past few weeks. The others have been held in Derby (Wed 20 July), Wellingborough (27 July), Nottingham (28 July), Oakham (Wed 03 Aug) and one more to be held in Grantham. All in all, there are eight organisations represented here today:

• Disability Nottinghamshire
• Genesis / LAMP Direct
• Good Thinking
• Human Rights and Equalities Charnwood
• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicester Deaf Action Group
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Loughborough Women's Aid
• The Race Equality Centre

Up till now the briefings have been conducted by Chino Cabon, Policy Officer at  The Race Equality Centre (TREC) and Kelly Jussab, Project Officer at REDP. Kelly has a family obligation today and has asked me to deputise for her.

Each of these meetings has been hosted by a member of REDP's Core Reference Group from that locality. Today's host is Leicester Deaf Action Group (with assistance from two members of Signing Network). Oas from LDAG opens the meeting, giving us a historical overview and an outline of the future prospects of their user-led organisation.

I give a beginners' guide to REDP, Chino speaks about the Equality Act 2010 (concentrating on the terminology used in the Act and its relationship with previous anti-discrimination legislation) then I'm back up front to present on the Localism Bill and Big Society.

The whole thing takes about three hours (including lunch) and I'm glad to say we get some positive evaluations from the attendees.