BNP Teachers

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

The request was successful.

From: Mark Walker

29 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

Link to this

Warwickshire County Council

4 January 2010

Dear Mr Walker

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - BNP Teachers
Thank you for your request for information which I acknowledge was
received by the County Council on 29th December 2009.

Your request is currently being considered. If the County Council is able
to provide you with the information you have requested, then under the
Freedom Of Information Act you are entitled to receive it within 20
working days.

For your information, the FOI Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of some or all of the information you have requested. The
County Council will assess your information request in light of the
exemptions. If exemptions do apply, then the County Council may decide not
to release all, or part, of the information you have requested. I shall
inform you if this is the case, and advise you of your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken by the County
Council as to whether to release the information to you. You will be kept
informed if this is the case. Any information provided to you would
ordinarily be provided to you as an e-mail. If you require an alternative
e.g. in a different language, or in audio, large print, etc. then please
let me know.

The County Council will not charge a fee to provide you with the
information you have requested, provided the cost of dealing with your
request is less than £450. If it appears likely that your request will
cost more than £450 to deal with then I will write to you again asking if
you are willing to pay the fees incurred, and setting out clearly what
those fees will be, in accordance with the FOI Act.

If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the
manner in which your request is being dealt with then please do not
hesitate to contact me at [email address] in the first instance.
Any complaints will be dealt with under the Council's corporate complaints
procedure.

Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information
Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office (01625 545
700) or www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, and on the County Council's
website. I will be in touch again shortly.

Yours sincerely

Rob Mantell
Project Leader
Commissioning Support Service
Children, Young People & Families Directorate
Saltisford Office Park
Ansell Way
Warwick
CV34 4UL

This transmission is intended for the named addressee(s) only and may
contain sensitive or protectively marked material up to RESTRICTED and
should be handled accordingly. Unless you are the named addressee (or
authorised to receive it for the addressee) you may not copy or use it, or
disclose it to anyone else. If you have received this transmission in
error please notify the sender immediately. All email traffic sent to or
from us, including without limitation all GCSX traffic, may be subject to
recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

Link to this

Warwickshire County Council

11 January 2010

Dear Mr Walker

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Your request for information has now been considered. The information you
have requested is enclosed.

What evidence is there that schools' equal opportunity policies are
effective in combating racism?

In general the reports of racist incidents within schools have not risen
and in some areas the incidents have fallen.
Warwickshire is a very rural community and although schools have written
and adopted equal opportunity policies this has not attracted any great
numbers of ethnic minority teachers to the area. Warwickshire also have a
BME staff network which all school staff are invited to join.

What are schools doing to promote racial equality?

Schools participate each year in a race equality award which demonstrates
their commitment throughout the year to the promotion of race equality.
Each year schools also volunteer to participate in Black History Month in
the production of a county wide event. The outcome of the event is to
demonstrate to schools how they can integrate race equality into the
school curriculum. Schools also take the opportunity to bring in an
external to school facilitator to work with the children on the whole
diversity agenda. Schools also work with our Intercultural Curriculum
School Suport.

Are the existing measures listed above effective?

Schools all have an equal opportunities policies which ensures that
recruitment is fair and accessible. The duties placed on schools makes it
necessary for them to promote race equality and community cohesion.
Schools are encouraged to have actions in their SIDP.

What further measures would you put in place to protect children and young
people from racism.

The recording and reporting of racist incidents is in place in
Warwickshire and this effectively monitors the issue. We also work
proactively in schools by delivering workshops to both pupils and
students.

If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the
manner in which your request is being dealt with then please do not
hesitate to contact me at [email address] in the first instance.
Any complaints will be dealt with under the Council's corporate complaints
procedure. Further information about your rights under the Freedom of
Information Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office
(01625 545 700) or www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, and on the County
Council's website.

Yours sincerely

Rob Mantell
Project Leader
Commissioning Support Service
Children, Young People & Families Directorate
Saltisford Office Park
Ansell Way
Warwick
CV34 4UL

This transmission is intended for the named addressee(s) only and may
contain sensitive or protectively marked material up to RESTRICTED and
should be handled accordingly. Unless you are the named addressee (or
authorised to receive it for the addressee) you may not copy or use it, or
disclose it to anyone else. If you have received this transmission in
error please notify the sender immediately. All email traffic sent to or
from us, including without limitation all GCSX traffic, may be subject to
recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Warwickshire County Council only: