BNP Teachers

Mark Walker made this Freedom of Information request to Gloucestershire County Council

The request was partially successful.

From: Mark Walker

17 December 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

By letter of 30 September 2009, The Secretary of State Ed Balls
appointed Maurice Smith to enquire into the "promotion of racism in
schools". Part of the review is aimed at determining whether
members of the British National Party (BNP) should be allowed to
work as teachers or in the wider school workforce.

At present there are a number of measures and safeguards in place
in place to protect children and young people in schools from
racially motivated discrimination and the promotion of political
doctrines that advocate discrimination and promote racist views.
These are:

• The requirement on schools to have equal opportunity policies

• The duty upon schools to promote racial equality

• Their duty to promote community cohesion

• The duty on governing bodies, headteachers and local authorities
to forbid the teaching of partisan political activities in schools

• The powers of the GTC (England) regarding suitability of
registration and where teacher conduct could bring the profession
into disrepute

I would like you to provide me with evidence of how effective these
measures are including whether they are sufficient to maintain
trust in the profession and protect children and young people.

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

1) What evidence is there that schools’ equal opportunity policies
are effective in combating racism?
2) What are schools in your area doing to promote racial equality
and promote community cohesion? Examples of measures deemed to be
good practice and recognised as being successful would be useful.
3) Can you provide me with any evidence that the measures listed
above have been effective (if this has not already been done)?
4) Are further measures required to either maintain trust in the
teaching profession or protect children and young people?

Yours sincerely

Mark Walker
Solidarity Trade Union
www.solidaritytradeunion.org

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From: MORRIS, Sue
Gloucestershire County Council

17 December 2009

Dear Mr Walker

Request for Information (Reference 09/FOI/1864)

Thank you for your request for information for racially motivated
discrimination, received on 17 December 2009.

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to the principles of the
Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and will wherever possible provide all
the information requested unless constrained by another statute or by an
exemption within the FoIA. Please note that some information you have
requested may not be provided to you; this will only be information that
can be withheld by law. In most cases the reasons will be explained to you
along with your copy of any information that can be released to you.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response as soon
as possible and within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, as
defined by the FoIA; that date is 19 January 2010.

We may need to contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is
to ensure that we provide you with the information you require.

If the information you have requested is held by another public authority
we will transfer the request to them. If you have any objections to this
approach please contact us as soon as possible so we know not to transfer
the request and we will provide you with the relevant contact details
instead.

Yours sincerely

Sue Morris

Information Management Service Administrator

Information Management Service

Gloucestershire County Council

Community & Adult Care Directorate

Shire Hall

Gloucester

GL1 2TG

Tel: 01452 426837

Email: [1][email address]

Go to [2]www.gloucestershire.gov.uk to find information on any County
Council service. It couldn't be easier to find information instantly and
in some cases apply for services on line.

For Freedom of Information (FOI) requests please email
[3][Gloucestershire County Council request email]

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From: JAMES, John
Gloucestershire County Council

19 January 2010

Dear Mr Walker,
Thank you for your recent FoI request, referenced above and included
below. Having consulted various colleagues in making enquireies, I have
found that there is little information we hold in response to these
questions. A general response to all four questions is given below:

We do not require schools to submit evidence of good practice in these
areas. Ofsted Reports would be the main source of information for anyone
wanting to find out how effective race equality & community cohesion is in
schools. These reports are in the public domain and downloadable from the
Ofsted website ([1]http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxcare_provider...). If
there are problems highlighted by Ofsted in this area, the Development &
Challenge team will alert the relevant team. So far they have not.

Our role is to support and train schools to deliver on curriculum issues
and to help schools improve their children’s well-being. The teaching of
Citizenship is statutory at secondary level and non-statutory at primary,
the team runs training and advice for delivering this subject. To this end
we have developed classroom resources ‘Living Together in the UK’ to
support schools’ work around community cohesion. We are also in the
foothills of rolling out the ‘Rights Respecting Schools‘ award across
the county , working with both primary and secondary schools. In addition
we support schools to develop pupil voice and the work of the Youth
Parliament.

4.4% (372 children) of those responding (8513 children responded) of
County CYP report they had been bullied because of their skin colour.

If you are unhappy with this response, you are entitled to request a
review of the decision by writing to:

Victoria Wathen
Information Manager.
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2TG.

If you are not content with the outcome of 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 contracted at:-

The Information Commissioner's Officer
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely
Commissioning Manager ~ Data Management
Data Management Team
Commissioning Section
Children & Young People's Directorate
Information Management & Strategic Planning
Gloucestershire County Council
Quayside House Room 109
Shire Hall, Westgate Street
Gloucester GL1 2TP
( Tel: 01452 425329
2 Fax: 01452 426415
* email: [2]mailto:[email address]

Go to [3]www.gloucestershire.gov.uk to find information on any County
Council service. It could not be easier to find information instantly and
in some cases apply for services online.
P Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you
really need to.

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