SOUTH WEST COUNCIL OF FAITHS |
|---|
Relating to Government |
|
David Rayner of the Inner Cities Religious Council gave a briefing to
members of the SW Regional Council of Faiths at a meeting (28/01/01) This is
based on my notes made at the time, so I am responsible for any glitches in
it! It covers ways in which interfaith and faith groups can initiate a
dialogue with the different levels of government. This is published here as
it contains various matters of topical interest.
This supplements material covered in a Conference in Birmingham last year,
which is published in a report by The Interfaith Network, called Inter
Faith Co-operation, Local Government and The Regions: Councils of Faith as
a Resource for the 21st Century, cost £4.75 including packing and
postage, from Bhupinder Singh, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SN The GLA (Greater London Authority) Act set up the first devolved regional government in England, and while it gives London authorities the discretion to consult, once that discretion is exercised, it is specified that "religious groups in London" are among those to be consulted. This has led to the formation of the Pan London Consultative Group on Faiths by leaders of the nine religions, those represented at the millenium celebrations. This does not include Paganism. Apparently enquiries about representation from the Pagan Federation and then from Rastafarians led to an impasse, members of the PLCGOF threatened to resign if this came to pass. We are interested in hearing more about this controversy. Another more representative body, the London Civic Forum, has appeared from the grass roots. This is a membership organisation, including faith communities, and it has a representative on PLCGOF. Presumably in view of the terms of the GLA Act, if pagan groups are not getting consulted, they have a right to ask for this separately from any other voluntary organisation or grouping, and to lobby Ken as a last resort if they do not get it. We are asking groups in London to respond to this, with information about their position with regard to this. Do they get political consultation? Do they want it? Do they not care? Or are they fighting for it, and how? What happens in London may have lessons for regionalisation in the rest of England if it formally goes ahead. While in SW England there is a faith communities member, who is supported by a council of faiths which has pagan members and has not yet refused representation to any group, this is not the practise in other regions. In the West Midlands the proposition was stonewalled by beaurocrats and there are no faith representatives, except within the black community representation. They were told they had to show democratic "transparency" but when they applied for funding from the Single Regeneration Budget to set up the infrastructure for this accountability, this was refused as inapproprtiate. We cannot say that the model for consultation with faith communities being developed in SW England, encouraging as it may appear to be to pagans and other minorities, will necessarily survive transition to an elected assembly in years to come. While funding for interfaith work is possible, and projects in Wolverhampton, Coventry and Blackburn-with-Darwen are featured in the Conference report above, there is a great lack of consistency. Some, in corridors of power, favour relations with faith communities, others do not. The Local Government Association (LGA) in partnership with other bodies, is compiling a Good Practise Guide for local authorities in relating to faith communities. Chief Executives have received a letter asking for feedback on this issue. It would be possible to write to your Chief Executive, to ask, how can we produce a good outcome to this consultation?
Another but parallel project is Compact, which is a document about the
relation between central government and the community and voluntary sector.
For progress on this look at In the NW region there is an interfaith tourism project, set up as a business, for people to visit "places of worship". Does anybody know any more about this? |
|
|
|
Click on to Stonehenge menu |