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Police Community Support Officer recruitment in Plymouth - 22/08/2006
All BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) individuals who are willing to become Police Community Support Workers in Plymouth should copy the link below and paste on the browser to download the necessary information provided by the Police Recruitment Agency for the post. If you are interested and need recommendation or if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. This is a good opportunity for BME’s to be seen as serving the community and to help achieve community cohesion and inclusion. Do not miss this opportunity!
Education must better reflect UK diversity’, says MP Lammy - 04/05/2006
The national curriculum must be adapted to reflect the various histories of the UK’s different communities for the sake of better race relations, says a top government minister. Culture Minister David Lammy posed the challenge to the government last Monday during a Black History Month debate on the future of BME heritage. In his keynote speech, Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said teachers were duty-bound to convey the histories of all ethnic Britons. Educational establishments, he said, must follow the lead of museums and galleries in portraying a comprehensive historical picture to foster greater community cohesion. “I pose a bold challenge to my government. If we are to rise to this challenge, the national curriculum must be part of the answer. We need to help teachers bring citizenship, history and geography to life by conveying the everyday experiences of different Britons that make identity, diversity and community cohesion such live concerns. Our museums, galleries and other cultural institutions are already working with schools across the country, using their collections to create individual and collective epiphanies which were not available to earlier generations. “The research and scholarship which underpin learning in museums allow them to provide a safe and trusted environment which is free of the polemic, sensationalist or superficial interpretations that these issues are occasionally given by the media. My department and DfES are committed to taking this work further.” Lammy’s speech came during a seminar hosted by the Heritage Lottery Fund at the British Museum last week. A top panel from the BME community included writer Bonnie Greer, Guardian Features editor Joseph Harker and Keith Khan, Chief Executive of the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation. During his delivery, Lammy sought to address whether BHM’s success at highlighting and promoting black cultural heritage had impinged on the ability to set BME history in its context as an integral part of the UK’s complex heritage. He said the forthcoming 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade is a unique opportunity for the cultural sector to catalogue this story. “We could make 2007 an open invitation to schools, faith groups, community-organisations, campaigners, historians and others to participate in building and sharing their knowledge and experience. Our ambition should be an event which isn’t owned by one group or another, or imposed on people from on high, but a genuine collaboration in which people are free to retell one of our island’s most important stories in their own words.” Lammy and the panel agreed that barriers continue to exist that restrict BME progress in many areas of life. Nepotism and social class continues to dictate the membership of many, if not most, national institutions or ‘clubs’. This leaves BME communities at a distinct disadvantage.
POLL YOUR SOCKS UP: Parties urged: get more BME candidates - 02/05/2006
With less than three months left before the local government elections, political commentators are concerned that the results of the polls will not reflect the diversity of boroughs, particularly in inner city London areas. All 177 local authorities in England will hold local elections on May 4 and the Electoral Commission does not expect the turnout to be above the average of 30 per cent. DISCONNECTION The Commission has put the expected low turnout down to a disconnection with the political process, particularly at the local level where potential voters don’t understand the purpose of the elections. Commentators have argued that that an inability by the main political parties to select BME candidates in areas with a high BME population is largely responsible for the apathy of many in the black community feel about getting involved at the local government level. Wayne Hoban, Lib Dem councillor in Haringey, said that overcoming an apathetic population was difficult. “If people think that regardless of what they do nothing will change, that is when you get low turnouts. Haringey in particular has such a long culture of being Labour – such that people don’t think things will change.” Donatus Anyanwu, a Labour councillor in the ethnically diverse south London borough of Lambeth, said the BME population was not to blame, however. “It’s about the parties putting the time and energy and making it worthwhile for BMEs to be involved and have their voices heard.’ He continued, “If the council are not giving black members the respect they deserve, and not making them officers, we say it’s institutional racism. “The council and the political parties are the problem. It’s not black people. We want to get involved as far as we can make a difference. But I don’t think Lambeth has given people like myself the opportunity to make a difference.” There are just five BME councillors out of 64 in Lambeth. Anyanwu said that changing the ethnic composition of local government would encourage others to get involved. “There has not been a single black face in the [Lambeth] council executive over the past four years. When you see a black face on the television, you look. When you see a black face in the council, you will listen. “You come to the council but everyone who speaks is a white male and you begin to feel ‘do I belong here? Why should I get involved?’ “Representation must be visible, and accountable so that people see you are doing something for them, and you look and talk like them. That is where the council has got it wrong. They make us feel that we don’t matter.” BLAME Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote also laid the blame at the door of the parties. “Whether by design or default, the political parties pay scant regard to representative democracy,” said Woolley. “It will only change when the leadership of the three political parties radically change and accept that they have little legitimacy to govern without BME representation.” However Lib Dem councillor Columba Blango, who described his Southwark borough as generally reflective of its population, said that too many people simply did not understand local government. “The vast majority of them do not really understand in broad terms how local authorities operate,” he said. “They understand specific issues but unfortunately the majority of black people give their allegiance to politicians based on what that politician has done for them, for example helping them with immigration, or housing issues. Black people say they will vote for Labour ‘because it is Labour who gave me my papers to stay’. However I always say, irrespective of the party, it is the MP’s job to represent you on any issue.”
TIGHT SQUEEZE FOR BME - 02/05/2006
Black and ethnic minority families are twice as likely to be severely overcrowded. Over three quarters of overcrowded families from these groups have children sharing a bedroom with their parents, and one in six have teenagers of the opposite sex who are forced to sleep in the same room. These are just three of the shock findings from the largest ever survey on the effects of overcrowding on families in social housing released by Shelter today. The report, ‘Full House?’, is published as the charity unveils a new hard-hitting billboard campaign at Westminster tube station. It aims to put further pressure on the government to fund more family-sized social rented homes in order to ease the overcrowding crisis. The report warns that if the impact of overcrowding is the same across all types of housing, 94,000 children from BME families in England could be sharing a bedroom with their parents, with as many as 38,000 overcrowded BME teenagers of the opposite sex potentially being forced to sleep in the same room. The survey also reveals that in over a third of overcrowded families from BME communities, children sleep in lounges, dining rooms or kitchens – due to lack of space. This could be equivalent to 49,000 children across the country. Adam Sampson, Director of Shelter, said: “Giving children the space to grow and learn ought to be a realistic expectation in 21st century Britain. EDUCATION “Yet today the health, education and future chances of thousands of youngsters are being blighted by cramped conditions that have more in common with the Dickensian era than those of a modern, thriving nation. “More than a year since legislation was passed making it possible to modernise our antiquated overcrowding laws, the government must urgently publish its proposals for updating them. But most importantly of all, Gordon Brown must fund the social rented family-sized homes this country needs to end the misery of overcrowding.” The report is part of Shelter’s Million Children Campaign, calling on the Chancellor Gordon Brown to commit to building 60,000 extra social rented homes in his pre-budget report in November. The charity is calling on members of the public to show their support for ‘More Homes Now!’ by signing campaign cards before this announcement, so that they can be presented to Gordon Brown at Number 11. Shelter is also calling on Ministers to urgently update Britain’s antiquated overcrowding laws – currently dating from the 1930s – to reflect today’s understanding of the need for space and privacy. Summary of survey findings: # BME families are twice as likely to be severely overcrowded # At least one child shares a bedroom with their parent(s) in 81 per cent of overcrowded BME families # Children sleep in rooms other than bedrooms in 42 per cent of overcrowded BME families # 16 per cent of overcrowded BME families paired teenagers of opposite sexes in the same bedroom # 93 per cent of BME families reported that being overcrowded makes it more difficult for their children to study # 96 per cent of BME families reported that being overcrowded harms the health of their children # 99 per cent of BME families reported that being overcrowded causes depression, anxiety or stress in the home.