COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (187) issued by The Government News Network
on 21 July 2008
Communities
Secretary Hazel Blears today set out how Government envisages
working in future alongside the many faith based organisations
already making a real difference to their communities.
The Framework for Partnership published today outlines new
support and £7.5m worth of investment to encourage and enable
greater local activity bringing people from different religions
and beliefs together. It also reaffirms government support for the
valuable work faith groups contribute to delivering services,
responding to some of the toughest challenges that society faces.
Speaking alongside Dr Harriet Crabtree and Rev Nims Obunge at the
Launch of the Framework at The Methodist Central Hall, London,
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said:
"We have long recognised the great contribution committed
individuals and organisations from our different faith communities
make, sharing their time, energy and skills to improve the lives
of others and their communities.
"As a nation we are cohesive, with the overwhelming majority
of people believing that people from different backgrounds get on
well in their local area. But as our communities become
increasingly interdependent we need to continue to build strong
and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds.
"We want to create more opportunities for people to get
involved and together help solve everyday challenges such as
homelessness, drug use, environmental pollution and the promotion
of healthy living.
"Our recent empowerment White Paper recognised the role that
religion and belief can play in motivating and providing the
opportunities for individuals to be active and empowered citizens.
"There is a role for government, but what works best is when
we work together with those committed individuals and
organisations sharing our ambitions, energy, expertise and
resources to achieve real and positive change within communities."
There are over 23,000 religious charities in the UK and many more
faith-based organisations, involving tens of thousands of people
motivated by their faith, working at a local and national level to
provide support and services to communities.
The Department will invest over £7.5 million over three years to
support communities directly. This will ensure that:
* there is an independent Regional Faith Forum in every English
region. There are currently nine forums providing a 'meeting
place' for a diverse range of local faith groups where they
can share ideas and find ways of coming together. The Regional
Faith Forums will work with regional decision making bodies,
including the Regional Development Agencies and Government Offices
to ensure that faith groups have a presence and effective say at
the local and regional level
* community groups have access to funding under the Faiths in
Action Fund. This aims to support local activities and will be
open to all types of organisations at national, regional or local
level in England to apply
In addition we will:
* produce a guidance leaflet for local communities which shows
ways in which individuals and groups can work together with those
with different faiths and beliefs and those with none.
* provide supportive guidance to local authorities on the
practical steps they can take such as supporting shared community spaces
* work in partnership with the Inter Faith Network for the UK to
organise an Inter faith Week - encouraging faith communities
across the country at all levels to raise awareness and celebrate
inter faith work.
The framework is not a fixed structure of what Government expects
to see happening, rather it is based on consultation responses and
best practise examples from a wide range of grass-roots projects
in communities across the country. It provides access to useful
resources and support to help maintain faith communities'
engagement with one another so that different groups can opt for
what works for them.
Among the practical suggestions communities could adopt are:
* the holding of open days at places of worship or community buildings
* working with local authorities to identify faith buildings with
'neutral' spaces which can be hired for meetings or events
* getting involved in providing and commissioning services
There can however sometimes be reluctance on the part of some
local authorities to commission services from faith based groups
and there are also concerns amongst some groups and organisations
including faith groups that they are disadvantaged when trying to
access funding.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
"People from all faiths across the country are coming
together, promoting tolerance and understanding and making clear
the values that we all share. The Government is fully committed to
supporting this important work.
"The new £7.5 million programme of investment for community
groups and Regional Faith Forums will give existing interfaith
bodies the support they need and deserve, as well as getting new
forums off the ground.
"Through dialogue and discussion, these Forums will bring
people from a variety of backgrounds together in a united purpose
and an understanding that the values we share are greater than our differences."
Hazel Blears said:
"There are countless examples of faith organisations working
alongside local authorities to meet the needs of the community.
However some people remain nervous about commissioning services
from faith based groups and want to be confident that public money
is not used to only help those that sign up to a certain set of
beliefs at the expense of others. "We are working with faith
groups and funding bodies to ensure that everybody is absolutely
clear about what is and is not appropriate, that those faith
groups providing services do so in a non-discriminatory way to the
whole community. But unless we make the most of the enthusiasm and
expertise of the faith sector, we are missing a major opportunity
and we need to ensure their valuable role is not overlooked."
The consultation responses showed the wide range of physical
spaces that faith communities are using. These include faith
buildings, schools, private houses, cafes, green spaces, community
centres, local authority premises and even supermarkets.
The framework also illustrates how faith communities could make
use of more secular spaces for the wider community to interact and
pursue shared activities.
Also as part of our wider work to 'empower' individuals
to influence decision making and shape public services the
framework shows how councils can transfer public assets such as
community centres to communities themselves giving them greater
independence and the more responsive to local needs.
Positive examples of work taking place across the country include:
Waltham Forest Faith Communities Forum's "Health
Preachers" scheme which works with the local Primary Care
Trust (PCT) to convey key health messages to people within Waltham
Forest's religious congregations.
Faiths4Change in the North West, using the environment as common
ground, the project helps local people from different backgrounds
work together helping to tackle unemployment, poor skills, low
income, poor housing, and crime.
Feltham Community Chaplaincy Trust (FCCT), is a registered
charity, operating a multi-faith project out of Feltham YOI, which
recruits and trains volunteers from diverse faith communities
across London, enabling them to be-friend and support young men,
of the same faith, who are returning to their local areas.
St. Philip's, Anglican Church, Leicester - one of three
national centres for education and training for church leaders -
has become a vibrant community centre providing facilities for
local groups and different communities fostering good inter faith
relations particularly with the local mosque.
'Meet Your Neighbours' a project in Blackburn with
Darwen which brings together young boys from a Jewish faith
school, a Muslim faith school, a Catholic school and a non-faith
school for a weekend in the Lake District. The project aims to get
young people who have not had the opportunity to meet people of
other faiths to get together and discuss what they have in common.
The Government is committed to building cohesive communities and
has always been clear that local responses are key to promoting
opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact.
An interfaith strategy was one of the recommendations made to
Government by the independent Commission on Integration and
Cohesion in their report Our Shared Future but cohesion is about
all parts of the community, not just race and faith issues.
The Commission made clear that there is no one size fits all
approach to cohesion. Local authorities need to develop responses
based on their own particular populations and circumstances.To
support this the Government is today publishing a Cohesion
Delivery Framework overview, a guidance document which is designed
to help local cohesion practitioners, particularly those who may
have the task of improving cohesion as part of a new local area
agreement. It encourages local authorities to map their
communities, identify challenges and opportunities and develop
targeted actions in response. The guidance document can be found
at http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesionfaith/communitycohesion/cohesionpublications/.
Notes for Editors
1. The consultation - "Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side" -
was part of the Government's response to the independent
Commission on Integration and Cohesion's report Our Shared
Future which set out a number of practical recommendations on how
to build cohesion and a shared sense of belonging including
confirming the important role that inter faith activity has to
play in building integration and cohesion, as well as the need for
more constructive conversations between those of faith and those
of none. In response Hazel Blears set out a ten point action plan
to promote cohesion and tackle community tensions including a
commitment to develop a new inter faith strategy. It was published
on 17 December 2007 and lasted for twelve weeks until 7th March
2008. 186 responses were received. A summary of responses is
available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesionfaith/faith
2. Faiths in Action, a £4m grants programme will be open to
faith, inter faith, voluntary and community organisations and
groups in England from 1 August 2008. Grants will be distributed
in two rounds. Round one will issue grants of up to £12,000 to be
spent over two years. It is hoped the grants will support a wide
variety of local activities in a range of community settings.
Administered by the Community Development Foundation (CDF) on
behalf of Communities and Local Government, Faiths in Action aims
to bring communities together, promoting positive relationships
between people of different religions and beliefs.
3. The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks distinguished between
"Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side" relationships.
"Face-to-Face" dialogue leads to people developing a
better understanding of one another, including celebrating the
values held in common as well as acknowledging distinctiveness.
"Side-by-Side" collaborative social action involves
people working together to achieve real and positive change within
their local community.
4. There is a long and positive history in this country of people
coming together to talk about and explore their own and each
others religions and beliefs in order to build understanding and
respect. This dialogue has increased in recent years with 183 new
inter faith groups having been established since 2000.
5. As a nation we are cohesive with 81% of people believing that
people from different backgrounds get on well in their area, and
77% believing they belong strongly to their neighbourhood. However
the citizenship survey also found that the majority of people
questioned in our latest citizenship survey felt there was a need
for people from different religious and ethnic groups to mix more.
6. Dr Harriet Crabtree is the Director of the Inter Faith Network
for the UK. The Inter Faith Network links faith community
representative bodies and inter faith bodies in the UK and works
with them to promote good inter faith relations. Rev. Nims
Obunge is Chief Executive of the Peace Alliance. The Peace
Alliance is a national crime reduction charity working on a local
and national basis in partnership with faith, community &
statutory organisations, the police, and councils. Rev Nims
Obunge is also a member of the Black Christian Leaders Forum.
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