Teachers who are members of political Parties.

Dear Mr Walker,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 9^th October
2009, in which you request the disclosure of information under the
provisions of the above Act.

We have begun a search for the information you require and shall contact
you again when we are in a position to respond further. Should we envisage
any delays, or require more details from you, we will contact you
immediately. In the meantime, if you have any queries about the above,
please do not hesitate to contact us, quoting ref. RFI 700/2009

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Freedom of Information Team

Freedom of Information | Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78,

County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ

Tel: 01772 533997 | Fax: 01772 530949

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

********************

Dear Mr Walker,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your email dated 9^th October 2009, in which you request the
disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are
now in a position to respond.

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.

No, to the best of our knowledge, but note that this is only in relation
to those cases in which our assistance has been sought by schools. Schools
and their Governing Bodies are directly responsible for taking
disciplinary action and not the Local Authority. We are not always
involved or consulted on every occasion a school takes disciplinary action
so therefore, it is potentially possible that such a case has occurred
somewhere but we do not know of it.

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?

No such complaints have been made directly to Local Authority Human
Resources and in any case, such complaints should be made directly to
schools in accordance with their respective complaints procedure. We have
no recollection of being asked by schools for advice on how to respond to
any such complaints they may have received.

3. What safeguards do you currently have in place to prevent members of
any political Party promoting their views within Schools?

We understand it to be a criminal offence for anyone to incite racial
hatred. It would be inappropriate for any employee to use their workplace
and their employer's facilities to openly promote the views of a political
party and it would be reasonable for the school, if this is where such
conduct occurred, to consider whether some form of disciplinary action is
appropriate.

The monitoring of individual teachers is a matter for the school. Schools
have a duty to promote community cohesion. This is also monitored through
OfSTED inspections. We would support schools in developing Community
Cohesion policies if requested

A directory of the schools within Lancashire, should you wish to contact
them for the information you are seeking, can be found on the County
Council's website at the following URL:
[1]http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/...

We trust that our response is to your satisfaction, but in the event that
you wish to complain about the manner in which your enquiry has been
handled, you should write in the first instance to The Freedom of
Information Officer, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall,
Preston PR1 8XJ, or email [2][Lancashire County Council request email]

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer
the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as
follows:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545700

Email: [3][email address]

Website: [4]http://www.ico.gov.uk

Your request will now be closed as of this date.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

Preston

PR1 8XJ

Tel: (01772) 531116

Fax: (01772) 530949

Email: [5][Lancashire County Council request email]

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

********************

References

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1. http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/...
2. mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
3. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
5. mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]