Notes of Meeting held on Wednesday 20^th June, 2007 at the
Northwest Development Agency
Warrington

Present:
Revd Peter Brain (Christian) in the chair, Revd Martyn Newman (Christian), Muslim), Helen Boothroyd (Christian), Revd David Emison (Christian), David Arnold (Jew), Louis Rappaport (Jew), (Bahai), Rt Rev Peter Forster (Christian), Joginder Bhamra (Sikh), Khalid Anis (Muslim), David Emison (Christian), Zia Chaudhry (Muslim), Rt Rev David Gillett
In attendance:
John Devine (Churches Officer for the NorthWest), Martin Miller (Manchester Diocese), David Rayner (DCLG), Ian McHugh (NWDA), Paul Harris (One North West)

1. Chair 's Opening remarks

The Chair welcomed people to the meeting. Ian McHugh, Social Inclusion and Diversity Manger at the NorthWest Development Agency, was asked to briefly introduce himself and his role.

A brief period of silent reflection followed.

1. APOLOGIES:
   

Barry Levene, A K Sinha, Suresh Mehta, Ishwer Tailer, Abdul Hamid Qureshi, Muhammad Junejo, Annette Pinna, Rt Rev John Goddard, Hilary Russell,
Agreed as a correct record
a. Liverpool Youth Event - further information will be provided in the future
b. Northwest Climate Change Consultation document - David Emison reported that a response to the consultation had been submitted. He hoped to have a paper for the forum in October.

1. ELECTION OF CHAIR & Vice Chair
   

There was only one nomination for the postion of Chair. The Rt Revd Peter Foster was duly elected.
There was only one nomination for the position of Vice-Chair. Dr Khalid Anis was duly elected.

Members of the Forum are needed to join the policy groups monitoring special interest topics:
· Regional Economic Strategy
· Regional Spatial Strategy
· Climate Change
· Community Cohesion
· Casinos

John Devine will seek volunteers

1. COMMISSION ON INTEGRATION & COHESION
   

This topic was introduced by David Rayner. David works for the Department of Communities and Local Government in a national role (with responsibility for faith) but is based at Government Office North West. He does do some wider third sector work within this region.

Context
· Political situation is currently in flux
· Strategies at national, regional and local level have recognised the role for the VCS (e.g. Action 108 in the RES on social exclusion and cohesion)
· The "strategic" role of the third sector is now seen as important.
· Thinking on cohesion was stimulated by the disturbances of 2001 in Northern towns
· The Commission was set-up as a way of broadening Government thinking on these issues
· There was scepticism about the involvement of Government especially as there was such a narrow understanding of the issues; it focussed on race when issues of identity and belonging are much wider

The Report
· Does not say anything particularly new but it does pulls together a lot of information
· It usefully recognises that there is not a one-size fits all solution for every situation
· It identifies positive things which the Government can do and suggests a more coherent response to these issues
· There is a useful typology of cohesion which incorporates issues other than race
· Issues in this document could be used to build relationships with local authorities; the agenda is linked to proposals in the Local Government White Paper
· We have to be careful about the response of statutory bodies who are not always positive about faith.
· The pressures on cohesion are dynamic (East European migration is a relatively new issue for example)
· We are also in a new legislative context (e.g. the new Equalities and Human Rights Commission) which introduces the concept of belief, such as humanism, rather than just religion.

John Devine commented:
· This is a two way process and there is a need for faith communities to recognise the challenge of engagement for them
· The religious literacy comments in the report are welcome. This links to work which is already going on (within the regions of the Northern Way strategy and the national Religious Literacy programme).

Comments from Forum members (replies from David Rayner are shown in italics):
· We need to be careful that faith communities are not seen as the answer to social dysfunction. It is not our role to hold society together. There needs to be a cutting edge to the faith communities' analysis of Government policy
The Government does respect the independence of the faith sector
· In Cumbria the social cohesion partnership is primarily faith led
· There are some assumptions in the report which may not be valid; e.g. it talks of community development but is not specific about the model (and some models such as broad-based organising could be controversial)
· The support of even the wider third sector for all government empowerment policies should not be take as read; there is some suspicion of the community asset transfer proposals for example.
· The report does not acknowledge concern over 'secularisation'
· Decision-makers need to understand all the threads of diversity
· What are the responsibilities of the faith sector itself in promoting religious literacy?
Faith communities concept is a secular construct but it does nonetheless provide an opportunity for us to engage with Government agendas
· There are two contentious issues which are tucked into the appendices; single group funding and funding for translation services
· Can faith-based higher education be used to progress religious literacy in the Northwest?
· Would the Development Agency support religious literacy?
The single group funding issue is very real - the Haredi community (who could be describes as a barometer of cohesion) would be seriously affected by this.
· It was noted that the discussion had been dominated by the Christians present at the meeting. It was suggested that this reflected greater public sector literacy in the Christian community and better organisational capacity to engage with these issues.

1. One North West
   

The Project Director, Paul Harris, presented an overview of One North West, the regional network for BME organisations:

· What it does
· Its engagement with regional agendas
· The benefits of involvement
· How to get involved

A copy of the presentation is attached.
Comments from Forum members:
· Care is needed when organisations claim to be representative of their community
· There can be overlap between different ethnic groups
· There is a list of members on the One North West Web site but it is out of date.
· The distinctiveness of faith and ethnicity needs to be respected (e.g. there are 40 different nationalities represented within the Muslim community).
· One North West is very definitely an organisation based on ethnicity but it recognises that faith communities can be used as a gateway into ethnic communities

1. National & Regional Update by John Devine
   

· Regional Assembly - The Social Economic and Environmental Partners Group is leading on Climate Change and Housing issues
· Operation Eden - it is hoped that the NWDA will agree to the roll-out of this as 'Faiths for Change' in the next week

· Web Site - This is out of date and the construction is very cumbersome. It should be redone in the near future

· Resilience issues (Emergency preparedness, & response including flu pandemic) - The faith communities are publishing a document on emergency planning in September. There will also be a specific document on flu pandemic.
GM Faith leaders have had a presentation on emergency issues and Churches Together in Merseyside have produced a well received emergency planning document

The statutory sector is not always very welcoming and has a very narrow view of the potential contribution of the faith sector. This is in spite of the fact that faith communities had a record of responding very well to these issues such as the flooding and Foot & Mouth outbreak in Cumbria.

· Supercasinos - should the Forum produce a public response to the comments of Graham stringer MP about the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the casino debate? It was felt better not to respond but send a private letter of support to the Archbishop.

I. DATES & VENUES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

Suggested dates will be checked with the New Chair and Vice Chair and then emailed to the rest of the Forum.

Previous venues have been chosen which have been appropriate for the items on the agenda. In the future the Forum would like to involve other parts of the Region.
II. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Local Elections- it was reported that the British Board of Deputies had run a very successful phone bank during the local elections in key areas where the BNP were standing.

Vote of Thanks - John Devine proposed, and the meeting warmly endorsed a vote of thanks to Peter Brain for his time as Chair. Peter is stepping down from the Chair's position and the Forum. His contribution in ensuring the effective establishment of the Forum was recognised.

Martyn Newman is also standing down and he too was thanked, in particular for his contribution to the steering group which drew up the terms of reference for the Forum.

1. CLOSE OF MEETING