Building community cohesion

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Building community cohesion

• David Jones
• Cohesion and Faiths Division

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Census 2001United Kingdom

• Ethnic groups
• 86 White British
• 5 White Other
• 1 White Irish
• 1.8 Indian
• 1.3 Pakistani
• 1.2 Mixed race
• 1.0 Black Caribbean
• 0.8 Black African
• 0.5 Bangladeshi
• 0.4 Chinese
• 0.4 Other Asian

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Census 2001United Kingdom

• Religion (voluntary question)
• 71.6 Christian
• 2.7 Muslim
• 1.0 Hindu
• 0.6 Sikh
• 0.5 Jewish
• 0.3 Buddhist
• 0.3 Other
• 76.8 Total religious
• 15.5 No religion
• 7.3 Not stated

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Department for Communities and Local Government
created in May 2006
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Key issues
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Cohesion - definition

• A cohesive community is where there is
• A sense of belonging for all communities
• Diversity is appreciated and valued
• People from different backgrounds have similar
  life opportunities
• Strong and positive relationships are being
  developed between people from different
  backgrounds.

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Cohesion - measurement

• The of people who perceive that people of
  different backgrounds get on well in their local
  area.
• 2005 Citizenship Survey - 80 in England and
  Wales gave a positive response.
• Aim is to deliver a statistically significant
  improvement in a majority of 10 monitored local
  areas.

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What is the Citizenship Survey?
Volunteering Charitable giving
Community Empowerment
Cohesion/ belonging/ views about local area
Race
Identity Social Networks
The Citizenship Survey
Religion
Demographics
Civic Engagement
Trust
Mixing
Values
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Cohesion - key documents

• Commission on Integration and Cohesion
• Our Shared Future published in June 2007
• http//www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/
• The Governments Response to the Commission on
  Integration and Cohesion published on 4 February
  2008
• http//www.communities.gov.uk/publications/
• communities/governmentresponsecoic

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Faith

• Freedom of religion and belief
• Why engage with faith communities?
• Faith Communities Consultative Council
• Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund
• Inter faith strategy

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Freedom of religion and belief

• The UK has a long held commitment to freedom of
  worship and belief.
• Government has no overarching role in
  regulating/recognising personal belief or faith.
  
• European Convention on Human Rights obligations -
  Human Rights Act 1998.
• People free to form religions and follow own
  practices and beliefs provided they remain within
  the law.
•  
• Article 9 of the ECHR states - "Everyone has the
  right to freedom of thought, conscience and
  religion . includes freedom to change religion
  or belief. manifest religion or belief in
  worship, teaching, practice and observance.
  Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs
  subject only to such limitations as are
  prescribed by law and are necessary in a
  democratic society."

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Why engage with faith communities?

• Britain is a multi-faith society quite as much as
  it is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.
• Aim to ensure that members of all faiths and none
  enjoy the same life opportunities and work with
  people who have different beliefs but shared
  values towards common goals.
• Faith communities contribute to social and
  community cohesion through the values and
  activities that underpin good citizenship -
  altruism, respect for others, ethical behaviour
  and community solidarity.
• Faith communities play a pivotal role in
  developing and delivering policies and
  initiatives in crime reduction, education,
  Respect, anti-social behaviour, and issues
  affecting young people.

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Faith Communities Consultative Council

• Established in April 2006.
• A national strategic forum concerned with
  cohesion, integration, sustainable communities,
  neighbourhood renewal, and social inclusion.
• Members are drawn from the 9 main world faiths
  and appointed for a three year period.
• 7 Christian representatives
• 3 Muslim representatives
• 2 Hindu, Jewish and Sikh representatives
• 1 Bahai, Buddhist, Jain and Zoroastrian
• Plus UK inter-faith bodies and those from
  Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• The Council meet fours times a year. Co-chaired
  by Minister and a rotating members chair.

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Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund

• First round of 7.5 million launched in September
  2005 - over 2400 applications.
• Second round of 4.3 million launched in August
  2006 - over 1200 applications.
• 13.8 million total investment including
  management costs.
• Aims of the Fund are
• Capacity building of faith based organisations so
  that they can play a fuller part in civil
  society, and engage more effectively with public
  authorities.
• Inter faith activity to improve mutual
  understanding and community cohesion through the
  development of partnership between faith groups
  and the wider community.

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Inter faith strategy

• Face to face
• Building good relations and breaking down
  barriers between people relating to faith, race,
  culture or tradition, through
• Improving mutual understanding
• Promoting exchanges between faith and cultural
  communities that facilitate a greater
  understanding of distinctive and shared values.
• Side by side
• Developing collaborative social action and
  partnership working by faith communities through
• Putting in place the appropriate infrastructures
  at national, regional and local level that act as
  enablers of local democracy and community
  empowerment
• Overcoming the perceived and actual barriers
  faced by young people and women in participating
  in interfaith and intercultural dialogue and
  activity.

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Four building blocks

• The four building blocks which support effective
  inter faith dialogue and social action are
• Structures which facilitate interaction and
  social action
• Opportunities for learning which build
  understanding
• Shared spaces for interaction and social action
• Confidence and skills to bridge and link
• Consultation document on inter faith strategy
• available at
• http//www.communities.gov.uk/publications/
• communities/interfaithdialogue

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Holocaust Memorial Day

• Establishment of an annual UK Holocaust Memorial
  Day on 27 January
• Anniversary of the liberation of
  Auschwitz-Birkenau, a powerful symbol of the
  horrors of the Holocaust
• Commemorates all of the communities who suffered
  as a result of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution
  
• Demonstrates that the Holocaust is relevant to
  everyone in the UK today
• Three main strands - national event, education
  and community activities
• Held in London (2001), Manchester (2002),
  Edinburgh (2003), Belfast (2004), London (2005),
  Cardiff (2006), Newcastle (2007) and Liverpool
  (2008)

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Preventing Violent Extremism

• Preventing Violent Extremism - Winning hearts and
  minds
• 5 April 2007 - new action plan published to step
  up work with Muslim communities to isolate,
  prevent and defeat violent extremism. 
• Sets out a range of concrete actions by which the
  Government will work with Muslim organisations to
  tackle violent extremism.
• http//www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communi
  ties/preventingviolentextremism
• Relationship with promoting cohesion
• Although the policy aims are closely related,
  promoting cohesion is independent of and clearly
  different to preventing violent extremism.
• Extremism seeks to undermine our shared values
  and divide our communities.
• If communities are strong and resilient - and
  underpinned by common core values - it will be
  harder for groups spreading messages of hate and
  intolerance to find a foothold.

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Tackling hate crime

• Working with key stakeholders to tackle race,
  faith and homophobic hate crime by
• Improving the local response to hate crime
• Increasing victim confidence in the criminal
  justice system
• Increasing the reporting of hate crimes
• Increasing the proportion of hate crimes brought
  to justice
• Criminal penalties for racially and religiously
  aggravated criminal damage have been
  strengthened.
• Extremist messages and myths perpetrated by Far
  Right parties can promote division, tensions and
  conflict.

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Integration of new migrants

• Often seemingly innocuous issues lead to
  misunderstandings that can cause problems between
  new arrivals and the settled community.
• e.g. rubbish bins being put out on the wrong day
• Important to help new migrants get to grips with
  what is expected of them.
• e.g. laws preventing drink driving
• Information packs can set out guidelines on
  social norms and customs
• e.g. commitment to equal opportunities
• Settled community can help develop these packs.
• Support for new migrants should go hand in hand
  with myth busting activity.

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The journey to citizenship

• Home Office proposes three routes to British
  citizenship
• Economic bringing to Britain the skills and
  talents we need
• Family reuniting citizens and permanent
  residents with loved ones
• Asylum honouring our tradition as a haven for
  those fleeing torture
• And three stages in the journey

Temporary Resident Time limited period of 5
years for highly skilled (T1), skilled (T2)
workers 2 years for family members of British
citizens 5 years for refugees
Probationary Citizen Time-limited period,
minimum of 1 year (for British citizenship) 3
years (permanent residence) Migrants earn the
right to progress to British citizenship or
permanent residence, or they will leave the UK
British Citizen Full entitlement to rights and
benefits Permanent Resident Indefinite leave to
remain, with option to switch to citizenship at
later date
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Citizens Day

• An opportunity to celebrate local achievements,
  build community cohesion and develop greater
  local engagement.
• Citizens Day can
• Develop peoples understanding of the wider
  community
• Celebrate the achievements of all groups
• Provide opportunities for residents to talk
  about important issues
• Build local peoples confidence
• Piloted by four local authorities - Birmingham,
  Hull, Stoke on Trent and Southwark