Minutes - draft

Please note these minutes are currently draft and are subject to committee approval.

Minutes of the Equal Opportunity & Diversity Board held on 19 May 2005 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Kirsten Hearn (Chair)
• Damian Hockney
• Aneeta Prem

Abdul Ullah and Rachel Whittaker also attended

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Laurence Gouldbourne (Head of Race and Diversity Unit)
• Hamida Ali and Doug Lewins (Policy Development Officers, Race and Diversity Unit)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick (Territorial Policing)
• Commander Steve Allen (Director of Diversity)
• Commander John Mc Dowall
• Shaun Kennedy (Head of Diversity Learning and Development, Diversity Directorate)
• Ian Critchlow (Acting Detective Sergeant, the Diversity Central Team)
• Martin Tiplady (Director HR)
• Chris Haselden (Head of HR Strategic Management)

The following attended for the discussion on faith issues:

• Rev Katei Kirby, General Manager, African & Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA)
• Dr Natubhai Shah, Chairman, Jain Sangha of Europe
• Andy Thomas, Support Officer, Faith in Lewisham Network
• Edith Steele, Equal Opportunities Officer, Churches Together in England
• Hanne Stinson, Executive Director, British Humanist Association
• Mr Tanzeem Wasti, Chair, London Affairs Committee, Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)
• Mr Harun Rahid Khan, Secretary, London Affairs Committee, Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)
• Dr Zahoor Qurashi, Member of the MCB Central Working Committee (CWC)
• Dr Usama Hasan, Member of the Governing Council, Association of Muslim Researchers
• Johanna Renz, Equalities Advisor, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
• The Hon. John Barnabas Leith, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the UK
• Satya Minhas, Hindu Council UK
• Nina Rahel, Camden Faith Communities’ Partnership
• Tarjinder Sehangera, Outreach Development Manager, Jewish Women’s Aid
• Michael Whine, Director, Board of Deputies of British Jews
• Jacqui Connor, Faith Development Officer, Newham Faith Sector Forum
• Don Horrocks, Public Affairs & Theology, Evangelical Alliance
• Joy Madeiros, Director, Faithworks
• Froukje Cradock, Public Affairs Co-ordinator, Faithworks
• Irfan Taylor, Community Development Worker, Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium
• David Russell, Member, Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum
• Edmund Adamus, Director for Pastoral Affairs, Catholic Diocese of Westminster & Executive Member, London Churches Group for Social Action
• Mahebub Ladha, Policy Manager (Race Equality), Westminster Faith Exchange
• Enakeno Ogbo, Strategy Development Manager, The Peace Alliance
• Flora Hoori, London Field Worker, Union of Jewish Students
• Azad Ali, Chair, Muslim Safety Forum
• Inspector Nick Cornish, Christian Police Association (CPA) London Branch
• Richard Kirker, General Secretary, Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
• M. Sayeed H. Khan, Member, Finsbury Park Christian-Muslim Group
• Rucksana Miah, Interfaith-Co-ordinator, London Central Mosque & Islamic Cultural Centre
• Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, General Secretary, Union of Muslim Organisations of UK and Eire (UMO)
• Norman Adams (Jah Blue), Chairman, Rasta International Headquarters
• Cedric Briscoe, Chairman, Lambeth Multi Faith Action Group (LAMAG)
• Gurdeep Singh Jutte, Office Manager, Metropolitan Police Sikh Association

Co-opted member: Lee Jasper (Policy Director Equalities and Policing, Mayor’s Office)

64. Introductions and apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Cindy Butts, Peter Herbert and John Roberts.

The Chair noted that Lynne Featherstone had resigned from the Authority following her election as the Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green. The Chair congratulated Lynne Featherstone on her election to Parliament and expressed her gratitude for her services to the Board.

On behalf of the Board, the Chair welcomed Laurence Gouldbourne the new Head of the MPA Race and Diversity Unit. The Chair also reported that this would be the last meeting Steve Allen would be attending as Diversity Director, although he would continue to advise the Board on other matters.

65. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

66. Minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2005

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2005 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

67. Chair and Members’ update

(Agenda item 4)

The Chair reported that she had participated in a visit to MPS officers serving in Bosnia.

68. Update- Stonewall diversity champions

(Agenda item 5)

A report was submitted which asked the Board to consider whether the MPA should apply to become a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

Rachel Whittaker reported that John Roberts had indicated that he did not consider that the expenditure represented good value for the Authority.

The Policy Development Officer, Race and Diversity reported that a further meeting had been held with Anni Marjoram, Mayor’s Policy Adviser on Women’s Issues to discuss how to progress the decision which had been made to develop a London-wide strategy on sexual violence. The next meeting would be held on 25 May.

Lee Jasper requested that a London contextualised report be submitted on crimes against women. The Chief Executive and Clerk advised that a report on this subject was due to be considered by the Planning Performance and Review Committee and could be submitted to the Board.

Resolved - That the MPA should apply to become a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

69. Religion and belief equality and the Metropolitan Police Service

(Agenda item 6)

A report was submitted which outlined the MPS service delivery and policy and strategy towards religion and belief equality. (A detailed note on the discussion of this report appears as Appendix 1).

Resolved – That the report be noted.

70. Discussion on the report on religion and belief equality and the Metropolitan Police Service

(Agenda item 7)

Standing Orders were suspended for the consideration of this item. The Chair welcomed representatives of many community groups to the meeting to take part in the discussion. (A summary of the discussion is attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes).

71. Responding to the report of the Morris Inquiry

(Agenda item 8)

A report was submitted which provided an update on the MPA’s agreed approach to responding to the recommendations made by the Morris Inquiry and outlined areas of responsibility for the Board.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

72. Diversity training in the MPS

(Agenda item 9)

A report was received giving details of MPS diversity training activity following the completion of the Community and Race Relations Training Programme. The report highlighted current work to support the new national race and diversity learning and development programme for the police service, the Performance Needs Analysis (PNA) on gender issues, the PNA on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues and proposals to support training on the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000).

It was noted that John Roberts had agreed to join the Programme Board. The Head of Diversity Learning and Development advised that the PNAs would be available in July and they would be circulated to members.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

73. Stop and Search Scrutiny Implementation Panel

(Agenda item 10)

A report was submitted providing an update on the work of the panel leading on the oversight of the recommendations made by the MPA scrutiny on stop and search practice.

The Policy Development Officer advised that following the resignation of Lynne Featherstone from the MPA, a new Chair would need to be appointed to the Panel. Lee Jasper paid tribute to the work carried out by Lynne Featherstone as Chair of the Implementation Panel. He hoped that a new Chair would be identified as soon as possible in order that momentum not be lost.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

74. Building community cohesion to defeat terrorism

(Agenda item 11)

A report was received summarising how the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) was striving to minimise the impact of counter terrorism work on communities, particular Muslim communities. The report provided an overview of how the MPS was developing programmes to create stronger and more resilient relationships with these communities. The report also referred to other areas of work being developed to identify and meet the needs of these communities.

Stop and search

Aneeta Prem asked about difficulties being experienced by communities other than Muslim groups in term of stigmatisation around stop and search. Commander McDowall said this would be dealt at borough level e.g. by the Safer Neighbourhood teams and the recently introduced counter terrorism intelligence officers. Aneeta Prem said she did not think that this reply fully acknowledged the extent of the problem and requested that a report be submitted.

Lee Jasper asked why whilst it was claimed that the stop and search activity was carried out as result of intelligence there were so few arrests following the searches. What were the facts concerning the success rate of the use of the power?

Work with the Muslim community

A piece of work was taking place in connection with the arrest of Baba Ahmed, seeking to build into an over-arching strategy for improving and increasing trust in Muslim communities. A meeting was to be held later in the day to discuss taking this work forward.

Lee Jasper said that he welcomed the fact that a strategy was being formulated and in order to ensure that momentum was not lost, requested a report be submitted to the next meeting.

Stop and search

Rachel Whittaker reported that in Westminster particular concerns had been voiced by the Arab population as it appeared as ‘other’ on the monitoring forms. She also referred to a piece of work in Westminster which was looking at the information given to officers at their daily briefings and whether there was a correlation between the people the officers were being asked to look out and the people they actually stopped.

Commander McDowall said the point about the recording of Arabs had been made at the Muslim Safety Forum meeting. Approval from the Home Office would be needed to any change in the form. Commander Allen said a report suggesting 40 plus 1 categories to replace the existing 16 plus 1 was due to be submitted to the Diversity Strategy Board and would then be considered by the MPA. There would be resource implications, as the IT systems would have to be modified.

Community impact assessments

The Chair asked about community impact assessments and Lee Jasper suggested that the Board receive information giving a snapshot of the position in two or three boroughs. He was also interested in any particular involvement with the African and Afro-Caribbean Muslim community.

Commander McDowall said the Muslim Contact Unit carried out the community impact assessments concerning the Muslim community. The National Communities Tension Team also contributed as appropriate and there was input from the Diversity Directorate.

Commander Allen said there were a number of different models for the assessments. Work was being carried out at rationalising these and was also looking at what training was needed. He undertook to take back Lee Jasper’s point about the Afro-Caribbean Muslim community.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

75. MPS Diversity Strategy

(Agenda item 12)

Commander Allen provided an oral report on the MPS Diversity Strategy outlined the process for introducing the revised strategy. Documents would be sent to members.

The meeting ended at 12.55 p.m.

Appendix 1

55. Discussion on faith

(Agenda item 7)

Standing Orders were suspended for the consideration of this item.

Kirsten Hearn the Chair of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board (EODB) welcomed representatives of the community groups to the meeting and explained that the Authority was keen to ensure that there was equality of treatment by the police in the way in which members of faith communities were treated. Over 100 groups had been invited to the meeting and these included sub-groups within the faith groups.

The Chair said that if the officers were not able to provide an answer to a question at the meeting, it would be followed up afterwards. Some of the replies which appear were given under Agenda item 11 – Building community cohesion to defeat terrorism.

Ian Crichlow, Acting Detective Sergeant in the faith strand of the Diversity Central Team introduced the report.

MPS as employer

Damian Hockney, MPA member, asked for more information on adaptations to the uniform.

A/DS Crichlow explained that there were several examples of adaptations to uniform, for example the headgear, which could be worn by Muslim women officers, was an adaptation of the hijab. Sikhs were allowed to wear their artefacts. The list was not exhaustive or closed.

Satya Minhas, Hindu Council UK said that whilst the provision of prayer rooms in places of work was to be welcomed, he felt they should be available to people of all faiths. Abdal Ullah, MPA member, said that the issue of multi faith prayer rooms did cause concerns for some people and the issue had to be dealt with sensitively. DAC Paddick confirmed that the aim was for common prayer rooms to be available to those of all or no faith.

Rachel Whittaker, MPA member, said the recording of faith was an extremely sensitive issue. She referred to the statement in paragraph 3 of the report that the initial recruitment form requires applicants to state their faith. In fact, the requirement to state faith was a voluntary one. At the ACPO conference in Birmingham she had been attending earlier in the week, she had been very surprised to be advised at an exhibition that the case and custody computer suite did not have a facility for recording faith and that some chief officers she had spoken to did not see the need for this provision.

Aneeta Prem, MPA member asked about training in the light of recommendations in the Morris report. What training did staff have for working in specialist teams and what further training and resources were available.

Commander Allen explained that the first round of training ended at end of 2004. There was a strategic approach from the Home Office but each borough was able to set up training initiatives, which related to the local communities.

Muslim Safety Forum

Lee Jasper requested an update on the current state of the relationship with the Muslim Safety Forum.

Commander Allen spoke of the difficulties that had led to the suspension of formal meetings of the Muslim Safety Forum, which he explained, was a forum of the Association of Chief Police Officers and not the MPS as such. It had a much larger than London-wide remit. Commander Allen stressed that during this time lines of communication had been left open. Monthly meetings had now recommended 4 key work strands: terrorism, policing of hate crime, internal HR issues and mapping effective links into local Muslim communities.

Lee Jasper requested that a written report be submitted on o the breakdown of relations with the Muslim Safety Forum, which set out the way forward.

Azad Ali, Chair, Muslim Safety Forum said the meetings of the Forum had been suspended as it had become a talking shop. Mr Ali also felt that a Faith Forum under the IAGs as suggested in the report could be just another layer of bureaucracy.

MPS engagement with faith groups

Barnabus Leith, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the UK said that the information at paragraph 38 was inaccurate, as there were existing linkages between the police and the Bahai faith. He asked that this be recorded in the minutes.

Cedric Briscoe, Chairman of Lambeth Multi Faith Action Group said he was pleased to report that relationships with the local police were excellent.

A/DS Crichlow said the reference in the report was to primarily to relationships with the Diversity Directorate and he apologised that it therefore did not acknowledge linkages that may exist at a local level. Up to now the focus had been on concentrating on the six main faith areas identified through the 2001 Census. He would be pleased to meet Mr Leith, and indeed any other groups present, after the meeting to exchange contact details in order that a formal link be established.

Commander Allen pointed out that the MPS was a vast organisation and the Diversity Directorate had a responsibility for establishing strategic relationships with groups and communities who could engage on a pan-London level and this was the perspective from which the report had been written. At borough level, engagement was likely to cover a much wider range of faith group than the main faith strands.

MPS as service provider

Recording of faith

Lee Jasper stressed that consistency in the recording and flagging of hate crimes remained a concern, as unless these crimes were recorded correctly there could be no certainty over the accuracy of statistics. He felt it should be acknowledged that anti-terrorist stop and search activities fell disproportionately on the Muslim community and accurate monitoring and recording was needed to set the anecdotal evidence in context. He requested that report on Islamophobic crimes be submitted to the Board and said that a report was needed on how the hate crimes against each faith group were monitored.

Azad Ali, Chair of the Muslim Safety Forum said the Forum was keen to know what the current position was with the possible introduction of recording of faith as part of stop and search. Abdal Ullah, MPA member explained that Tower Hamlets, his link borough, was one of the first boroughs to pilot Recommendation 61 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report on the recording of stops. There were strong indications from recent community meetings he had attended that faith should be recorded.

DAC Paddick confirmed that this was a complex issue with diametrically opposed views being advanced by various faith groups and consultation was continuing with a wide range of faith groups. The police themselves did not have a view on the issue but he was adamant that there be maximum public confidence in the use of stop and search process.

Azad Ali, Chair Muslim Safety Forum, said that this had been an issue for the Muslim community for a matter of years. Without this data there would continue to be perceptions from people in the Muslim community that the community was being discriminated against. Having the figures would act as a way of bridging the gap between the community and the police. There had already been several discussions on the subject and any further delay was regretted. He was not sure that as many people were diametrically opposed to it as had been suggested by DAC Paddick. Some of the reasons for not introducing it which had been advanced – such as the officer feeling uncomfortable in asking questions about faith – he felt would soon resolve themselves in practice.

Gurdeep Singh Jutte, Office Manager, Metropolitan Police Sikh Association, agreed that the crucial issue in connection with stop and search was the manner in which it was carried out, but there was now a considerable body of learning on this point.

DAC Paddick said he could understand why the Muslim community would feel that they might be disadvantaged by anti-terrorism activity. Responsibility for stop and search in connection with counter terrorism lay with the Assistant Commissioner, Special Operations.

Religiously motivated crime

Lee Jasper asked what the system was for flagging up religiously motivated crimes against places of worship and how this related to the recording of these crimes by faith group. There was a strong perception that whilst attacks against Jewish places of worship were flagged others were not, which meant that detailed figures for attacks on the various categories of premises were not available.

Cedric Briscoe, Chairman of Lambeth Multi Faith Action Group, asked whether there was any detail of arrest and conviction for attacks and arson at religious buildings and asked whether anything was known about the motives for such crimes. An understanding of the motives might help to reduce hate crimes.

Satya Minhas, Hindu Council UK said that attacks on Hindu temples were mostly unresolved. The MPS needed to improve performance in this field in order to increase confidence amongst the Hindu community.

A/DS Crichlow said that flagging of religiously motivated crime by police officers had been standard in the MPS for some time in both the crime reporting and Computer Aided Despatch systems. The crimes would then be investigated – usually by trained officers in the Community Safety Unit. There were ‘sub-flags’ which related to more specific faith categories and it could be the case that not all officers were aware of the sub-flags.

DAC Paddick said that regrettably the crime reporting software was old and was not as user friendly as might be hoped. An alternative approach was being investigated under which officers would log crimes through a bureau rather than navigate the computer system themselves. This would require investment. However, this should not excuse an officer from accurately flagging religiously motivated crimes. It was the policy of the MPS to treat all religions equally and this would apply to crimes involving religious premises but there may be occasions when an officer did not flag the crime precisely enough. He accepted that the onus lay with him to ensure that officers did know that they were expected to record each crime precisely.

Aneeta Prem enquired about on-line reporting of hate crime as available on, for example, the Hertfordshire Constabulary site. She had been advised that the True Vision reporting system referred to in the report had been out of commission for some time.

DAC Paddick at present there was no specific ability for the public to report hate crimes on-line and this would require investment.

A/DS Crichlow confirmed that the capacity to report on-line was limited. The Islamophobia packs that were being distributed did have provision for some third party reporting from community groups via the web site, but regrettably, it was not possible to provide a general rollout of the service. True Vision reporting packs, which were a self-reporting facility, further supports this work. The overall aim was to be able to capture as much information as possible on hate crime.

Victims of hate crimes

Hanne Stinson, British Humanist Association, said it was very encouraging that the Humanist Association had been invited to attend the meeting as Humanism intended not to be included at faith meetings. There was clearly some valuable work going on with the faith groups, but she would seek an assurance that this did preclude those of non-religious beliefs. With regard to hate crime, there were instances of hate crimes against people who were identified as atheists. Hanne said that there needed to be assurances that the views of the leaders of the faith groups which were presented at meetings with the police were in fact representative of the faith community as a whole e.g. women in the faith community. Ms Hanne also asked whether there was a MPS Staff Association for people of no faith.

DAC Paddick said that if a person felt that they had been victim of a hate crime due to the fact they had spoken at a Humanist meeting, the crime would be treated as religiously motivated. The Diversity Directorate would be happy to meet with the Humanist Association so that the ideas outlined could be developed further. All requests for Staff Associations were carefully considered and this would be the case if an approach were made by members of staff who were Humanist. The need to ensure that those who spoke for the various communities were fully representative was acknowledged and applied to all communities. The MPA had a statutory responsibility to ensure consultation with the people of London.

Aneeta Prem asked for more information on any work going on with other Muslim communities.

Facilities for detainees

Abdal Ullah, MPA member, said there were perceptions that the food provided to people in police custody was limited in scope, did not cater for every faith and that sometimes false assumptions were made about diet. He also found the wording of paragraph 18 concerning risk assessments on detainees confusing.

DAC Paddick said it was important that it was important that the faith of detainees was known so that any special requirements could be catered for.

Richard Kirker, Lesbian and Gay Christian, said there was more diversity within the faith communities than might be assumed from reading the report and there were at times dissenting voices within a particular faith group. He reported on the work that a group of faith organisations had carried out to facilitate the visit of a Canadian Muslim lesbian to London. One of the organisers had received two death threats and whilst with the support of the police it was possible to hold a public meeting in London, that due to be held in Leicester had had to be cancelled. Referring to the new legislation concerning incitement to commit religiously motivated hate crimes, he said that his organisation felt that this would be an unwelcome and unnecessary piece of legislation.

The Head of Race and Diversity, MPA said any new law had to both fair and effective and he had concerns that the proposed law, as drafted, would not work any better than the existing laws on hate crimes where only two cases had actually got to court with only one conviction having been secured. (With regard to the Babar Ahmad case, which had been referred to, he said that he understood the Independent Police Complains Commission was considering whether there could be a judicial review of the decision).

Commander Allen that if new legislation were introduced, it would be enforced fairly, impartially and in conjunction with the community.

Work with particular groups

Flora Hoori, London Field Worker, Union of Jewish Students, asked how the MPS worked with Student Unions. Particular problems had been encountered at the campus of the School Oriental and African Studies. She also asked what chaplaincy provision was made for members of other faith groups and the faith groups.

Damian Hockney said he agreed with the comment about the proposed new legislation and asked how is the Muslim Contact Unit was working with Muslim LGBT to deal with issues such as death threats. Aneeta Prem asked how the Muslim Contact Unit was working with Muslim women.

Commander Allen said that the Muslim Contact Unit was working with a number of organisations such as Amnesa Muslim Arts and Women’s Relief. The Diversity Directorate had given financial support to a conference on LGBT issues in the Muslim community. Commander McDowall said that he could not provided a full response on the work currently being carried out but he would arrange for a written response to be submitted.

General election

Abdal Ullah, MPA member, referred to some tensions which had appeared in Tower Hamlets during the recent general election campaign and was concerned that this could have a negative impact on the good work which had been done by the police and communities concerning community cohesion in the borough.

Commander McDowall explained that a risk assessment was carried out in each constituency and a Gold group had been established in Tower Hamlets. The policing challenges in Tower Hamlets had been met.

Lee Jasper said that whilst the election in Tower Hamlets had undoubtedly been controversial he did not consider that any tensions experienced at that time would continue in the post election period.

Summing up

The Head of Race and Diversity, MPA, undertook to provide a resolution to the question of recording stop and search. He said it was clear from some contributions that the MPS had to be aware of the diversity that existed within faith and non-faith groups. He would be happy to share his experiences gained elsewhere on the question of the introduction of a prayer/quiet room.

The Chief Executive and Clerk said she wished to thank all those who had attended and for the hard work by the Race and Diversity Unit in ensuring that such a wide range of organisations had been invited.

In summing up the discussion, the Chair thanked everyone for attending and for their contributions. Some important points had been raised

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