My ref:
FOI 471671
Your
Date: 10th November 2009
Contact:
Sarah Priestley – Information Governance Officer
Direct dial:
(01223) 699137
E Mail:
[Cambridgeshire County Council request email]
Customer Service and Transformation
Mr Mark Walker
Corporate Director, Pat Harding
Information Governance
By email:
RES1405
[FOI #19951 email]
Room 307
Shire Hall
Cambridge
CB3 0AP
Dear Mr Walker
Re: Request for information.
I write with reference to your email of 9th October 2009 in which you request information
relating to teacher membership of political parties.
This request has been dealt with in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please
accept my apologies for the delay in our response. I hope that this hasn’t caused you any
inconvenience.
As your request is in 3 parts, I will deal with each in turn. However, this request should also
be directed to the individuals schools themselves as Cambridgeshire County Council does
not have a role to play in disciplinary actions which fall short of dismissal. I have attached a
link to the contact information for the schools.
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4753168B-AB46-4011-93DC-
5F66E8CD09A7/0/ListofEducationalestablishments.pdf
1. Has your authority ever found a member of the BNP or any other political Party
guilty of a disciplinary offence related to their Party membership in the last three
years? If so please give information as to when and how many.
I am unable to confirm whether there has been any disciplinary action in the last three years
however, I can confirm that we have had no dismissals of known BNP members in
Cambridgeshire schools in the past three years.
2. Has any parent complained to you regarding the Party membership of any employee
or the expression of political views within School classrooms under your authority
during the last three years?
I can confirm that the Authority does not keep a record of parental complaints as these are a
matter for the head and governing body to deal with. It would be quite normal practice for a
head or governor to seek advice on how to handle a complaint but the responsibility for
dealing with it rests with the school.
3. What safeguards do you currently have in place to prevent members of any political
Party promoting their views within Schools?
Schools have codes of conduct which require professional behaviour from all staff. It would
be considered inappropriate for any employee to promote their own specific political views,
although the PSHE curriculum would obviously cover current affairs.
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to
make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to Nicola Graves,
Head of Customer Services, c/o Information Governance Team, Box RES 1405, Shire Hall,
Cambridge CB3 0AP.
If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless
you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Council. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Sarah Priestley
Information Governance Officer.
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
