1. 713 - 19 JUNE BIG ISSUE NORTH
NEWS
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FGM RECORDED
There were 1,242 newly
recorded cases of FGM in
England between January and
March.Twenty-nine cases were
girls under 18 and 333 of them
in the north of England – which
has the second highest rate of
cases recorded behind London.
It is the fourth quarterly dataset
from the Health and Social Care
Information Centre and has
already identified 5,000 cases.
YORK WALLS
A £350,000 repair plan for
York’s historic walls was due to
be approved as Big Issue North
went to press. Micklegate Bar
roof, Monk Bar steps and Tower
32 will benefit from council
money allocated for one-off
projects. City of York Council
approved the first phase of a
longer-term repair programme,
set out in a report on the
condition of the walls, at a
meeting last week.
CHESHIRE MAYOR
An elected mayor for Cheshire
will be part of a devolution deal
due to be announced in coming
weeks, reports say.Three
out of four Cheshire councils
submitted a bid for more powers
and funding to the government
last year. Councils claim the
deal will create 112,000 jobs
but Helen Jone, Labour MP
forWarrington North, argued
the plans were a Conservative
stitch-up.
ROTHERHAM ABUSE
The first arrest made as part
of a National Crime Agency
investigation into historic
child sexual exploitation in
Rotherham has been made. The
man arrested is under suspicion
of rape, supplying class A and
B drugs and assault, all against
a girl under 16. Operation
Stovewood is investigating
cases between 1997 and 2013
in the town after the Jay Report
last year revealed 1,400 girls
were abused during that period.
Criminologist criticises
“everyday racism”
Plane removals fear
A series of incidents in
which Muslims – or people
presumed to be Muslim –
have been prevented from
travelling are examples of the
racial profiling increasingly
faced by many British
citizens.
That is the view of Leeds
Beckett University academic
Waqas Tufail, a criminologist
who studies policing,
anti-Muslim racism and
radicalisation – and warns
that such events should not be
viewed in isolation.
“I believe it’s dangerous to
see these cases as aberrations,”
he said.
“We need to consider
the wider context and that
includes the current public
discourse about Muslims,
which is really problematic.”
‘Looked suspicious’
Over recent months,
numerous passengers have
been singled out by the
authorities or removed from
planes or buses following
complaints from other
passengers.
Last month, two men were
removed from a Rome-bound
Monarch flight at Birmingham
after a couple complained
they “looked suspicious”.
On the same day a Ryanair
flight to Manchester was
evcuated and searched in
Norway after two men – one
British and one Sri Lankan
– were heard arguing in the
toilet, with some passengers
reporting they had heard the
word “bomb”.
In April, a passenger was
removed from a London-
bound Easyjet flight in
Pisa after another traveller
complained of “suspicious
behaviour”.
The same day a British
man of Eritrean descent was
ushered off an Easyjet flight
from Rome to London by
armed police because another
passenger “didn’t feel safe”.
Weeks previously, a
Christian of Nigerian heritage,
Laolu Opebiyi, was removed
from a plane at Luton Airport
after a fellow passenger read a
message on his mobile phone
about “prayer” and reported
him as a security threat,
believing he must be Muslim.
And in February, Ahmed
Ali and his wife were about to
fly from Manchester Airport
to Morocco, when they were
told by Thomson Airways
staff to get off the plane and
questioned by police under
section seven of the terrorism
act.
Other cases have taken
place on buses. In December
a group of hijab-wearing
Muslim women were forced
off a National Express coach
from Manchester to Leeds
following a dispute with the
driver, while a Muslim man
was asked to leave another
National Express bus when
other passengers complained
he “looked shifty”.
Similar incidents have
happened repeatedly on
flights in the United States.
Tufail said: “In my view
these are all examples of
everyday racism and this
doesn’t occur in a vacuum.
“We are fed a particular
discourse from politicians
and the media also plays a
significant role in shaping
people’s opinions.
“This influences how
sections of British society
view Muslims.
“In the UK, there are
various issues going on which
have intensified over recent
times. On one side you have
the Prevent agenda, which has
been statutory since last year.
“This puts a counter
terrorism responsibility on
people like me – teachers,
lecturers or council employees
for example – to monitor
colleagues and students for
signs of extremism and report
them.
“You only need to look
at police statistics to see
they also profile people for
stop and search, something
they often targeted Muslims
for under section 44 of the
Terrorism Act, which was
then rescinded.
CIARA LEEMING
on-Mersey to accommodate
the SEND pupils, if it wished.
SEND grants were
ringfenced but now spending
is at management’s discretion.
In academy chains this grant
– even if it is allocated based
on the needs of individual
schools within a chain – is
non-specific and can be
spent how the trust sees fit.
Ashton-on-Mersey’s argument
that it cannot accept more
SEND pupils due to “lack
of resources and physical
space” has therefore attracted
scrutiny.
Judicial review
Councillor John Lamb, chair
of governors at Ashton-on-
Mersey School, said the
school provided just under 8
per cent of its places to SEND
students.
“If you think about a
comparable neighbouring
school that same figure is
under 1 per cent,” he said.
But James Betts, a specialist
education lawyer at law firm
Simpson Millar, has sent a
pre-action letter to Ashton-on-
Mersey on behalf of parents.
They are seeking a judicial
review of the move.
“Local authorities have a
duty under the Children and
Families Act to admit a child
to the school or academy set
out in their Education, Health
and Care (EHC) plan,” he said.
Additionally, the Equality
Duty 2011, created under the
Equality Act 2010, ensures
local authorities do not
disadvantage SEND children.
Brady said: “I can see the
sensitivity of the issue and
why parents are concerned,
especially with the fact that
parents are now seeing the
education of their children
moved.
“We need to get beyond that
and assess what the school are
saying: that it is because they
can provide a better service
with more space and better
facilities.”
Trafford Council’s
education, health and care
team, which assesses SEND
provision, did not respond to
a request for comment. The
Dean Trust did not answer
questions put to it.
DANIEL CAVE
BIN1136_06,07 (news).indd 7 10/06/2016 14:08