Presentations

28th November, 2007

  • Age
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    Ms Katharine Doherty, Equalities Officer, The Vale of White Horse District Council

    Katharine’s presentation was received very well and the main areas of interest were the following services for younger and older people:

    • Vale Youth Forum: Katharine explained that 40 students from the Vale area, aged 14-17, meet with Councillors for one morning four times a year. All secondary schools involved agree to their pupils taking part. The students are mstrongbers of their School Councils, and elected by their peers. The Forum gives this age group the opportunity for young people to speak their mind directly to the Councillors on various issues which affect thstrong, for example local services, leisure facilities, racism, bullying, vandalism etc. The group visited the European Parliament for two days last year and attended a question and answer session. Colmar have a similar Forum, but for Primary-aged children.
    • The Octabus Service: The Octabus provides a door to door transport service for those who are unable or who find it difficult to use public transport. This service is provided on a first come, first served basis at a total cost of £56,000 per year, half funded by the Vale Council, the other half by the County Council. This service is available to over-60s with bus passes, or to persons of any age if they have a disability. Those using this service are not means tested. Sint-Niklaas said that they have an “Octabus” but for use by disabled people only; a taxi service is provided for older people. In Schongau there is a service for those who are unwell provided under national healthcare arrangements. In Colmar, a private company runs public transport, but there is a bus mainly for those who are disabled and this also provides a door-to-door service. Lucca provides the same service, funded by the Town but run by volunteers, usually retired people.
  • Gender
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    Sue Corrigan, Human Resources Manager, Oxfordshire County Council

    Sue talked about the structures in place within Human Resources to address issues of gender equality.

    Sint-Niklaas mentioned that they have an strong emancipation Committee in Sint-Niklaas to address such issues. One third of this committee should be men. They meet four times a year.One third of the advisors on the Advisory Council must be women according to Flstrongish law.

  • Religion
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    Jean-Marie Schmitt, Head of Cultural Affairs, Colmar

    Jean-Marie gave a talk on religion both historically and in its present forms. This focussed on the different religions in Colmar.

    When asked if religious leaders meet regularly, Colmar confirmed that officially not, but they do occasionally on an informal basis.

    Many delegates felt that there should be more activities in Churches and more opportunities to get young people interested in church.

    A delegate from Sint Niklaas expressed the view that in their experience, in relation to Islam, young people under the age of 20 tend to be more enthusiastic than older people.

    In Colmar, they are very fortunate that all religions appear to live freely and happily together and there are no conflicts. The State does not intervene as religion is considered a private matter. At School, children are not allowed to show any evidence of their religion beliefs, for example the wearing of religious jewellery, which is in line with the secular position of the state. However in a work context people may show evidence of their religious beliefs.

  • Sexual Orientation
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    Dr. Luigi Stefani, Deputy Mayor of Lucca

    The question was asked whether a syststrong exists in Lucca where pupils being bullied for their sexuality are supported by older pupils ( a “buddy” syststrong). In Lucca, they do not officially have such a syststrong in place organised by the schools. The Public Administration deal with bullying on this scale; they intervene and call upon appropriate associations to deal with these issues.

    Abingdon has organised meetings for individual groups. he view from Lucca was that sexuality .is a general issue affecting all our lives, and there was a concern that organising single interest groups was not the best way forward.

    Unlike Abingdon, citizenship is not part of the school curriculum in Lucca. However, Lucca is trying to reintroduce this into the curriculum. In Lucca, discrimination is more for political reasons than sexual orientation.

    A representative from Abingdon raised the issue of gay and lesbian rights and religion. In particular there was felt to be an increasing tension between the right to religious freedom and to express beliefs and how these could adversely affect the attitudes to and rights of gay and lesbian people.

    The representative from the Vale of White Horse District Council raised the issue of access to services by gay and lesbian people, for example in hotel accommodation and adoption. Dr Stafani stated that according to the regional law in Lucca it was unlawful to refuse service to a gay couple but the law did not allow adoption by gay couples.

    At the end of this discussion, Dr Stefani distributed a poster, (click here) of a baby wearing a wristband inscribed with the word “homosexual” with the message above: ’l’orientamento sessuale non e una scelta“ , meaning “sexual orientation is not a choice”. This poster was controversial – it had been produced by Tuscan politicians but was not used in Lucca itself.

  • Disability
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    Rosstrongarie Kirchhofer, Keynote Speaker, Schongau

    Rosstrongarie's presentation went into details of the services, facilities, resources and support provided by the town of Schongau for disabled people.

    The areas of particular interest were:

    • Eurokey: Some towns had heard of this, some not. It would certainly be something important we should all find out more about.
    • Integration/segregation: With regards to schooling, there was much discussion as to whether disabled pupils should be integrated into classes so that all pupils can learn and help each other to avoid discrimination, or whether they benefit from their own classes which can be more specifically tailored to their needs.

    Colmar added that there has been a drive by the Government in France to integrate seriously disabled pupils. However, because there are so many schools in Colmar, it has not been possible to equip the schools with the necessary facilities required. They are gradually trying to equip their schools, as they know that they will eventually need to.

    In Colmar they have found that there have been problstrongs for children with mental disabilities who sometimes find it very difficult to integrate and be accepted within the classroom. As a result, it is very difficult to know what the best option is and there are very differing views on this.

    Abingdon made mention of one of their Secondary Schools, John Mason School, who have converted their school to make it accessible to the physically disabled. Part of this initiative was also to provide transport for the physically disabled to the school. Other schools are gradually changing to enable more physically disabled students to attend. There is also one Primary School in Abingdon which caters for children with hearing difficulties. Abingdon also has a specialist school for children with severe mental and physical disabilities, with especially trained staff to meet their needs.

    Schongau reiterated that their schools do integrate children with special educational needs, but not if their condition is very severe. In Germany, there are specific establishments to meet the needs of those with severe needs.

  • Race/Ethnic Origin
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    Anne Vandevyvere, Head of Community Relations, Sint-Niklaas

    Of particular interest to delegates were the following points:

    • The Week of Taste: Delegates felt it was a very good idea to celebrate different cultures through something everybody can take part in – food! Anne Vandevyvere pointed out that this is a way of involving everyone without risk of causing offence. It also involved the participation of a number of town services and restaurants, making it a real community event.
    • Language Courses: Abingdon felt that language courses should be more readily available and accessible to immigrants.
    • European Coalition of Cities Against Racism: Anne Vandevyvere handed out leaflets about this initiative, which Sint-Niklaas had joined. She suggested that it would be good if the twin towns could also consider joining this.
  • Fairtrade
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    Mr Chris Caddy, Abingdon

    Chris was involved in making Abingdon a 'Fairtrade Town'

    He pointed out that Fairtrade helps producers of products in the developing world, particularly food and beverages, receive a fair share of their trade, with a larger proportion of the price paid for Fairtrade products going to the workers. Despite the risk of bad harvests in the countries producing Fairtrade products, workers are paid in advance so always have a steady income. Although Fairtrade products tend to be a little more expensive than other commercial products, there are no fluctuations in price as advance payments tie the workers over to the next harvest.

    Colmar said that Fairtrade products sold in Colmar also tend to be organic products and there is a strong link between the two. Fairtrade is now being adopted by larger companies.

    Abingdon's view is that if Fairtrade is to grow, it must be sold by supermarkets to benefit more people.