Newsline 16 December 2016

Welcome to this week's Newsline. This will be the last full edition before Christmas, and it's larger than usual, packed with campaigning news and opinion – including success with our fundraising on Lewis to ensure families can go swimming on Sundays – despite objections of Sabbatarians on the local council.

On a less positive note, with the Government planning to extend religious discrimination in admissions, it is also resisting calls to review the alarming extent to which faith schools can discriminate against teachers who don't share the faith of the school. With your support we'll continue to hold the Government to account and keep pushing for a truly inclusive and secular education system, free from any religious discrimination.

We can also announce an event in Parliament early in the New Year on the future of free speech to mark the second anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. See below for details. Nominations are also now open for Secularist of the Year 2017. Who do you think has made a significant contribution to the secularist cause and deserves recognition? Let us know!

We'll be back next week with a message from our President, reflecting on our 150^th anniversary year and looking forward to the challenges ahead for the secular movement. In the meantime, if you aren't a member of the NSS, please put your principles into action and sign up today!

News, Blogs & Opinion

	Sabbath swimming campaign succeeds, thanks to islanders and secularists News \| Tue, 13th Dec 2016 Local campaigners have succeeded in their effort to secure funding to open a popular swimming pool on Sundays – pressing the council to abandon its unpopular decision not to. With more than 80% of the £11,400 needed raised by the campaigners, the NSS stepped in and paid the outstanding amount to ensure success for the crowdfunding initiative. Pauline Matterson of Lewis campaign group Families into Sport for Health (FiSH) said: "We are delighted to receive the support of the National Secular Society who recognise that the FiSH campaign for Sunday opening of ISL [sports centre] has been persistently thwarted on religious grounds. "FiSH has worked respectfully within the council's processes and procedures for the last decade in raising the issue of Sunday opening. While FiSH is a health focused, community organisation, the Western Isles has a history of Sabbath observance, and some councillors have stated that the issue of Sunday opening is one with religious connotations. Prior to the introduction of the Equality Act in 2010, the local council stated religion as a reason for the absence of Sunday operations. Recently, it has stated the reason for not opening is financial. "FiSH is pleased to help the council overcome their stated financial shortfall. The 1550 plus members of FiSH and other supporters are hopeful that this financial contribution will be treated in the same manner as other local groups who were successful in their request for additional week day hours." Alistair McBay, the National Secular Society's spokesperson for Scotland and vice president said, "We are delighted to be able to support these families in the Western Isles and their health initiative. As secularists, we have no objection to Sabbatarians staying indoors on Sunday and observing the Sabbath according to their custom but they need to understand that not all islanders share their religious beliefs. The local council now has no option but to open the leisure facility for the trial year. "Thank you to all who donated and made this victory possible." The council initially claimed that it couldn't consider opening the pool on Sundays for a yearlong trial period due to a lack of funds, but one councillor who supports the initiative said the real reason the council wouldn't approve Sunday opening was for religious reasons. Councillor Neil Beaton said that "It was apparent from the e-mails and letters I received that preserving the Sabbath was the main objection to Sunday opening, not the financial objections that were made." Despite the funds now being raised, the council is still being defiant. Since the fundraising campaign's success in hitting its target, the council have claimed that their block on Sunday swimming was "democratic", even though a local survey found over 70% of respondents supported opening the pool on Sundays. They also said there still needed to be a show of "local demand" – despite the successful campaign achieving its objective. The council are also now saying that their objections and not for "purely financial issues" and that they have "operational issues". Now armed with the funding to pay for the pool's opening however, local campaigners will continue to press the council to abide by the wishes of the majority of the people of Lewis. Lewis has a long history of religious fundamentalists blocking services from opening or running on the Sabbath, and Councillor Beaton said the council should distance itself from a "stifling sanctimonious Sabbatarian shroud." In recent decades however islanders have cheered the running of Sunday ferries, dwarfing a small number of Sabbatarian protestors, and a survey by FiSH found overwhelming support for opening the pool on Sundays.
	Government refuses to review discrimination against teachers in faith schools News \| Thu, 15th Dec 2016 The National Secular Society has criticised the Government for refusing to accept a recommendation from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to review the law which permits faith schools to discriminate against teachers on religious grounds. In a recent report on the law regarding religion and belief in the workplace, the EHRC called for the appointment of teachers by faith schools to be "modelled on the current occupational requirement exception set out in the Equality Act", meaning a genuine occupational requirement would be needed before a school could discriminate when hiring staff. The EHRC said a change in the law was necessary to ensure occupational requirements were genuine and that "teachers are able to pursue their careers without unjustifiable limitations being placed upon them". Exemptions to the Equality Act permit some faith schools to apply a religious test in appointing, remunerating and promoting all teachers, including head teachers. In Voluntary Controlled faith schools the religious test can only be applied to one fifth of positions – including the headteacher – which are classified as 'reserved'. These provisions also give the governors of some faith schools the right to discipline and dismiss teachers for any conduct, including private conduct outside the school, which they deem to be "incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets, of the religion of the school". In December this year a popular head teacher at a Roman Catholic school in Hampshire was forced out of his job because he is divorced and remarried. However, in a response to a parliamentary question tabled by NSS honorary associate Graham Allen MP, the Government said it was "important that faith schools are able to maintain their particular religious ethos and deliver the form of education which they have historically provided and which parents value." Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "Employment, equality and human rights law applies to the employment practices of all schools, and they must act reasonably and proportionately." He said the Government was not aware of any "firm evidence that schools are acting outside of this framework and have not been alerted to any alleged faith-discrimination cases from members of the school workforce." Mr Allen's question had asked the Secretary of State for Education what steps she was planning to obtain independent legal advice to establish whether sections 60 (4) and (5) of the School Standards Framework Act comply with the EU Employment Equality Directive Article 4 (2) and that the exceptions be legitimate and proportionate, following the concerns expressed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The National Secular Society has long argued that UK legislation relating to state funded faith schools licenses discrimination against teachers not of the faith of the school and breaches European employment laws in relation to discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. A legal academic advising the EHRC and the European Commission and the Society's own legal advice maintain the SSFA is in breach of the European Directive. In 2014 the European Commission announced it would take no further action against the UK Government after investigating complaints, submitted by the National Secular Society over employment discrimination in faith schools – a move described as "political" by the NSS. Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director said; "the Government's intransigence on this issue shows an alarming indifference to the plight of the increasing proportion of non-religious teachers who the law allows to be kept out of faith schools, and also to those left vulnerable to dismissal simply because religious bodies consider them to be 'sinners'. "If the Government expects publicly funded faith schools to act reasonably and proportionately in their employment practices then it should ensure this requirement is written into the law. At present many faith schools appear to have unfettered freedoms to unfairly discriminate on both religious and other grounds, such as sex or sexual orientation. We urge the Government to amend the law to clarify that faith schools are only permitted to discriminate where a genuine occupational requirement can be demonstrated." A recent Catholic School Census published by the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales (CES) shows that 41.9% of teachers in English Catholic faith schools are practising Catholics, despite just 8.7% of them being required to teach Religious Education. In Catholic primary schools 62.3% of teachers at Catholic, with 64.51% of them teaching RE. In total, 51% of the 48,745 teachers working in England's 2,142 Catholic state-funded schools are Catholic. Only a little over 1% of the British population attend a Catholic church on a normal Sunday.
	NSS urges Government to abandon plans to expand religious selection News \| Mon, 12th Dec 2016 The National Secular Society has responded to the Government's consultation on plans to remove the faith based free-school admission cap and criticised alternative measures to promote integration as "ineffective and tokenistic". Though acknowledging that the admissions cap had failed to prevent minority faith schools from being segregated, the NSS warned the Government that the cap was the "only meaningful effort" to "address the problems caused by faith-based schooling." At present, all oversubscribed faith based free-schools are subject to a 50% cap, requiring them to keep at least half of their places open to local children, regardless of religion or belief. However, the Catholic Education Service has refused to open new free schools, insisting on the ability to select all pupils on religious grounds. Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns director, said: "The Department for Education appears to have bullied into this proposal. Rather than being subservient to the Catholic Church, ministers should consider making religious involvement in publicly funded education conditional on the schools they run being non-discriminatory. "A further expansion of religiously selective faith schools is the antithesis of inclusive education. Whilst these proposals may create extra capacity in the schools system, they will do so by sacrificing equality and social cohesion. We urge the Government to abandon them." Measures suggested by the Government to ameliorate the segregation inherent in minority faith-based schools were "tokenistic" and likely to be "ineffective", the NSS said. One recommendation made by the Government to replace the cap is to require new faith schools to prove that there is demand for places at the school among parents of other faiths. The NSS response reminded the Government that this was not a new proposal. "Under the existing arrangements for opening schools, all free schools, including those with a designated faith or faith ethos, are required to demonstrate how they will be 'attractive to parents and pupils from outside your faith community'." The Department for Education already claims the requirement to be inclusive is "tested rigorously at every stage of assessment and 'pre-opening' as well as after schools open". The NSS suggested that "Given that this measure is already supposed to be in place, we are highly sceptical as to whether it will be enforced in the future." Support for a good local school should not be conflated with support for a faith school explicitly, the Society warned. The Casey Review into integration in the UK, launched last week, warned that "segregation appears to be at its most acute in minority ethnic and minority faith communities and schools". "If we don't want Britain to be religiously and ethnically segregated, our schools shouldn't be," the NSS submission said. Other DfE recommendations included asking schools to consider twinning arrangements with schools of other faiths, but the NSS said that this was "no substitute for ongoing real world interactions between pupils in integrated schools in the same school for every school day." The NSS said the Government was "deluded" if it believed its proposals would make minority faith schools more integrated, inclusive and appealing to those who do not share the religion of the school. You can read the NSS response in full here.
	Sister Sarah Kuteh: up steps the next so called victim of ‘Christian persecution’ Opinion \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 It has been another week in which we've seen Christians in the Middle East losing their lives to violence and persecution, but much media attention in the UK has instead focussed around the plight of a nurse, supposedly sacked for "offering to pray with her patients". Sister Sarah Kuteh was employed by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust as a nurse in the surgical pre-assessment unit. Part of her job involved completing a pre-operative assessment form which includes asking patients scheduled for surgery about their religion or belief to ensure any religious requirements are understood prior to surgery. But despite repeated warnings not to do so, Mrs Kuteh abused her position to evangelise her Christian faith to patients. Speaking on ITV's This Morning, Mrs Kuteh made clear that if a patient told her they were not religious, instead of simply recording this as her job requires, she would challenge such patients about their beliefs and use the opportunity to proselytise. Such behaviour is clearly a breach of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct and, unsurprisingly, resulted in numerous complaints being made against her. Mrs Kuteh has now become the latest in a long line of committed Christians to be paraded by Christian Concern, in order to peddle the false narrative that Christians in the UK are being persecuted for their beliefs. To illustrate just how manipulative and dishonest Christian Concern's telling of the story is, it's worth reading the below statement from Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, explaining what really happened: "We have a duty to our patients to ensure that when they are at their most vulnerable, they are not exposed to the unsolicited beliefs and/or views of others, religious or otherwise. Sarah Kuteh's dismissal was not because of any religious belief she held but how these beliefs were being conveyed to patients. Following several complaints from patients that the conversations were excessive, unwanted and not consensual her line manager directed her to concentrate on her nursing duties and refrain from preaching to patients. Regrettably there was no change in her conduct and the Trust felt it had no option but to handle her behaviour through the disciplinary process which resulted in her dismissal. The Trust felt given the full circumstance it acted appropriately and in the best interests of the patients in its care. Because her actions breached the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct, the case has been referred to the NMC." Patients clearly deserve better than to be subject to this kind of intrusive and inappropriate behaviour when they are at their most vulnerable in hospital. I'm quite sure Mrs Kuteh was acting with the best of intentions, but either she fails to understand the importance of professional standards of practice and behaviour, or chooses to ignore them. Either way, the hospital had a duty to act. Defending her actions in the media, Mrs Kuteh said: "How could you treat any patient... just looking at the physical needs and not their spiritual needs." The importance of 'spiritual care' is indeed recognised by the NHS. However, as the Royal College of Nursing's 'pocket guide to 'Spirituality in nursing care' makes clear, "spiritual care is not about imposing your own beliefs and values on another" or "using your position to convert". It is about recognising and responding appropriately to people's needs. This is what Mrs Kuteh has failed to do. And as the NHS Trust that employed her has pointed out, the hospital fully supports the spiritual and religious needs of its patients and staff by providing a multi faith chaplaincy and facilities to accommodate all beliefs. In taking the action it has against Mrs Kuteh the hospital isn't neglecting patients' spiritual care, it is protecting it. But none of this matters to those hell-bent on promulgating the false narrative of 'persecution' against Christians in Britain. They're simply pursuing an agenda of misleading the public into believing Christians need special exemptions from equality laws, enabling them to impose their religion on others or discriminate against gay people. They want a hierarchy of rights, with their religion at the top. They're aided and abetted by media outlets happy to produce 'fake news' in order to sensationalise and sell papers. Take for example, the Daily Mail's coverage of Mrs Kuteh's story. Their headline read: Nurse is sacked for offering to pray with her patients despite call by equality watchdog to end persecution of Christians". Mrs Kuteh wasn't simply sacked for 'offering to pray' with patients and the headline woefully misrepresents the Equality and Human Rights Commission's recent report which found no evidence that Christians were being persecuted in the UK. The EHRC has criticised politically correct organisations for their occasional over-sensitivity, but as their new guidance on religion and belief in the workplace makes absolutely clear, employers are well within their rights to place limits on discussions about religion or belief at work, particularly when it comes to treating patients in a healthcare setting. Interestingly, this story was written by the Mail's religion and education correspondent Jonathan Petre, who has just been made head of media for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Let's hope that Justin Welby demands higher standards of accuracy and journalistic integrity from Mr Petre than his current employer does. As for Mrs Kuteh, her case will now be heard by an employment tribunal, and once all the facts are laid bare, I fully expect the hospital to be vindicated. But for those claiming 'persecution' it hardly matters. With such an obliging media, any outcome is another opportunity to advance their agenda.
	MP says Government's silence over Louis Smith heralds "unwritten blasphemy law" News \| Thu, 15th Dec 2016 Conservative MP Charles Walker has sharply criticised the media for unleashing "a torrent of venom" against Louis Smith, and said the Government was "nowhere to be seen" when it should have been defending free expression. Mr Walker said the Government's silence over the hounding and death threats against Louis Smith "heralds, de facto, the reintroduction of an unwritten blasphemy law, enforced by threat and thuggery." He said the episode "shamed our nation and its laws." "In our liberal and open society, freedom of worship marches hand in hand with the freedom to lampoon religion. Quite simply, that is the deal." Walker said after The Sun released the video of Smith lampooning Islamic prayers "sensationalist reporting of his actions in some sections of the media resulted in the gymnast's receiving multiple death threats." Despite a "rich heritage of aiming both excoriating and gentle humour in the direction of Christianity", Walker said the BBC "placed itself firmly at the head of the mob." He drew attention to a Radio 5 Live interview where the presenter defined as 'Islamophobic' as "sort of hateful or it can mean mimicking or it can be taking the mickey" and said Smith had been "very, very offensive" and "shameful". In treating mockery of religion as "shameful" the presenter "placed a question mark over the motives and legacy of some of the UK's greatest deceased and living comedians," Walker said. "Louis Smith is never going to be the world's greatest comedian, but we—and the BBC—should be blind to that fact, because the law applies as much to gymnasts as it does to joke-tellers." He wrote to the BBC challenging why no condemnation of the death threats was made during the interview, despite the presenter finding time to condemn Smith, and warning that the "inquisitorial tone of the interview" heightened the "already significant threat to his wellbeing and safety." In response the BBC said that the interview helped Smith, because it meant he could "appease" "people who might be angry with him." Walker added that "the only person who is deserving of an apology is Louis Smith himself. He is owed an apology from the Muslim Council of Britain for its ridiculous overplaying of Muslim sensitivities towards their faith, for having toured the radio and television studios to be publicly humiliated and smeared, and for having missed his Olympic homecoming parade to visit mosques." The MBC said that Smith's apology fell "well short of addressing the hurt caused against Muslims", which Walker described as "uncharitable nonsense from an organisation that strives to be taken seriously." Walker also said that British Gymnastics should apologise to Smith for its "cowardly decision" to suspend him and that the BBC had treated Smith in a "callous and cruel" way" and behaved in a "wicked and irresponsible way". The National Secular Society has strongly welcomed Mr Walker's comments, particularly his criticism of the Government to be proactive in defending freedom of expression. Campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "The sensationalising of this private video by the media, and particularly The Sun, only contributed to a climate of censorship brought on by the unreasonable and reactionary views of some religious extremists. Too few spoke out for Louis Smith's right to freedom of expression, and the Prime Minister gave a troubling and weak answer when asked about the case at Prime Minister's Questions last month." When Mr Walker asked the Prime Minister about Louis Smith in November, Theresa May said that there "is a balance we need to find" and that Smith, despite being threatened with death, had a "responsibility to recognise the importance of tolerance of others." In early December Walker asked the Home Secretary why she had failed to give voice to the importance of defending free expression "during the manhunt and vilification of the gymnast Louis Smith".
	Call to found an Islamic faith school in Scotland ‘open to all’ News \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 An academic at the University of Edinburgh has called for the Scottish Government to open an Islamic faith school in response to the country's "multifaith and multicultural landscape". Dr Khadijah Elshayyal of the University of Edinburgh's Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary world said Scotland should open a state-sponsored Islamic faith school "open to children from all backgrounds". In response, the National Secular Society said: "It's nonsense to say that an Islamic faith school will be open to all. It is very hard to imagine why non-Muslim parents would want to send their child to a school with a religious ethos they don't share. "By their very nature faith schools are discriminatory and segregate children from one background. That does nothing to aid integration. "In the wake of the Casey Review on integration, which found that ethnic segregation was worst in minority faith schools, the very last thing we need is more divisive faith-based schooling. "Muslim state schools are not the answer to increasing religious diversity in Scotland." Though Muslims make up less than 1.5% of Scotland's population, the Muslim population is concentrated in specific areas, with some parts of Glasgow where almost half of the school-age population is from a Muslim background. The report said: "At the moment, there is no state-funded Muslim school in Scotland, although there is a strong tradition of state funding for Roman Catholic schools, as well as three state-funded Episcopalian schools and one state-funded Jewish school. "The evidence in this report suggests that, in view of the significant proportion of Muslims among school-aged children in some wards within Glasgow and Dundee, there is an opportunity for the Scottish Government to demonstrate its commitment to parity by taking steps towards funding a Muslim school. "While there may be opposition from some quarters to the potential expansion of the faith school sector, in the context of real anxieties around sectarianism for example, such a step would signal a solid intention to deliver equity in parental choice. "If such a school were open to children from all backgrounds, it would serve as an acknowledgment of Scotland's multi-faith and multicultural landscape, and could represent an opportunity for successful community engagement with the education system, as well as for inter-faith integration, interaction and learning." NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "Scotland has relatively little of the non-Christian religious diversity that England has, and it can avoid making some of England's mistakes when integrating religious minorities into society. "In the long-term, balkanising society by dividing children by their parents' faith will do nothing to help religious minorities or foster integration." The report seeks to "promote improved religious literacy and understanding," but Mr Evans added that dividing pupils by faith "will do nothing to promote understanding."
	Catholic education charity faces inquiry over handling of child abuse claims News \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 A statutory inquiry has been opened by the Charity Commission into the St Laurence Education Trust and Ampleforth Abbey, over the Catholic charities' handling of sexual abuse allegations. The St Laurence Education Trust runs two prestigious independent Roman Catholic schools, the Ampleforth College and St Martin's Ampleforth. The Ampleforth Abbey religious community shares a site with Ampleforth College, which is at the centre of child sexual abuse allegations. The Commission said that the St Laurence Education Trust faced an investigation over "the charity trustees' approach to safeguarding and handling of allegations of sexual abuse" at Ampleforth College. "The investigation follows media reporting regarding individuals with links to Ampleforth College in connection with allegations of sexual abuse. The Commission has been engaging with the trustees on this matter since August 2016. A decision was taken to open the statutory inquiry on 15 November 2016 after considering further information from the trustees and the Commission's statutory duties." The Charity Commission is not investigating the allegations of abuse themselves, but the governance and response of the charity to allegations. The statutory inquiry will examine whether there has been "misconduct or mismanagement" by the charities' trustees and their "handling of safeguarding matters". Additionally, the investigation will consider "how the charities dealt with the risks to the charities and their beneficiaries arising from alleged abuse incidents, including the application of their safeguarding policy and procedures." It will also look at "the administration, governance and management of the charities by the trustees and whether or not the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law". The Commission stressed that it was not a "safeguarding authority" and that its inquiries into the St Laurence Education Trust and Ampleforth Abbey, a religious community that shares a site with Ampleforth College, would not go into the investigation of "allegations of abuse or actual incidents of abuse, whether historic or recent." "Anyone with concerns about specific incidents of alleged abuses, whether historic or recent, regarding any charity, should report their concerns to the police and the relevant safeguarding authorities," the Commission said. Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing many victims of abuse in the Catholic church, and an NSS council member, said that "there have been serious concerns for many years about the handling of complaints of child abuse at Ampleforth and indeed in the wider English Benedictine Congregation. These concerns have intensified following recent media stories. The decision of the Charities Commission to initiate a formal inquiry into these issues indicates the seriousness of the problem. It is imperative that religious organisations are held to the same standards as secular organisations when it comes to child protection."
	“Growing recognition” that circumcision of children is wrong, as Danish doctors call for it to end News \| Fri, 9th Dec 2016 The Danish Medical Association has made a "symbolic" statement calling for an end to male circumcision, arguing that the procedure should only ever be performed with "informed consent". The Association said that male circumcision involves "pain" and the "risk of complications" and that it was "ethically unacceptable" to perform the operation "without the informed consent of the person undergoing the procedure." "It is most consistent with the individual's right to self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision." Circumcision should be an "informed personal choice" left to the individual to decide for themselves when they come of age, the Association said. Though deeply critical of the practice, the Association has stopped short of calling for an outright ban, saying that it would be "difficult to predict the consequences" of a complete prohibition. Lisa Moller, President of the Medical Association's Ethics Committee, said that the areas "is ethically, culturally and religiously complex, and we worry whether a legal ban might result in unauthorised circumcisions." Instead, the new policy position says that the "process towards the elimination of circumcision of boys" should be undertaken in dialogue with the religious minorities that practice it. The statement was welcomed by Doctor Antony Lempert of the National Secular Society's Secular Medical Forum. "The Danish Medical Association has added its weight to the growing recognition that 'it is wrong to deny an individual the right to choose whether or not they want to be circumcised.' This unequivocal position statement, welcomed by the SMF, recognises that the surgical infliction of parents' religious or cultural beliefs on a normal child's healthy body represents a life-long burden to be borne by the owner of the body. "It is encouraging that Denmark has joined the growing number of countries willing to challenge harmful religious privilege and practice. The SMF supports the choice not to call for a ban. There is no need to ban an activity that would already be illegal were existing laws against violent assault on vulnerable people implemented. "The principles of child safeguarding are that children should be protected from serious avoidable harm inflicted on them until such time as they have matured sufficiently to protect themselves and to make their own decisions about what is best for them. That these principles still need to be stated in defence of a child's right to protection from assault is a reflection of the enduring power wielded by adults with religious beliefs. "The assumption that the child belongs or will later choose to belong to their parents' belief system or culture is increasingly exposed as wishful thinking. "In the name of tolerance, cultural relativism and widespread misinformation, necessary challenge to traditional practices has been ducked mainly for fear of offending religious adults or communities. But these communities are not homogenous and many within them would welcome support for increased child protection." Dr Lempert added that in response to campaign work by the Secular Medical Forum, the British Medical Association was considering an update to its position on male circumcision, last revised in 2006.

Upcoming event

Event marking the 2nd anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack: 'The Future of Free Speech'

Join us in Parliament to mark the 2nd anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Speakers include Nick Cohen, Caroline Fourest, Jim Fiztpatrick MP, Martin Rowson, and Jodie Ginsberg of Index on Censorship. Please RSVP to events@secularism.org.uk. Space is limited.

NSS Speaks Out

The successful fundraiser to help islanders on Lewis was reported by the BBC, the National, Hebrides News and the Stornoway Gazette.

We've been on several BBC radio stations this week talking about the nurse 'sacked for praying' (see the real story above). Our campaigns director Stephen Evans has a piece in the Huffington Post on so-called persecution of Christians in the UK. We also had a letter in the Church Times on this.

Quotes of the Week

"This House reaffirms the right of every person in this country to use the phrase Happy Christmas; and encourages communities to remember and celebrate the real reason for Christmas which is the birth of Christ".
Bizarre early day motion sponsored by 7 MPs, apparently concerned that the right to say 'Happy Christmas' is somehow under threat.

"The Government's silence in the matter of Louis Smith ... heralds, de facto, the reintroduction of an unwritten blasphemy law, enforced by threat and thuggery."
Charles Walker MP on the Government's weak response to the death threats directed at Louis Smith.

Essays of the Week

Sharia courts have no place in UK family law. Listen to women who know.
Pragna Patel, Guardian.

NSS: Time to put the Christian persecution myth to bed
Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director.

	Sabbath swimming campaign succeeds, thanks to islanders and secularists News \| Tue, 13th Dec 2016 Local campaigners have succeeded in their effort to secure funding to open a popular swimming pool on Sundays – pressing the council to abandon its unpopular decision not to. With more than 80% of the £11,400 needed raised by the campaigners, the NSS stepped in and paid the outstanding amount to ensure success for the crowdfunding initiative. Pauline Matterson of Lewis campaign group Families into Sport for Health (FiSH) said: "We are delighted to receive the support of the National Secular Society who recognise that the FiSH campaign for Sunday opening of ISL [sports centre] has been persistently thwarted on religious grounds. "FiSH has worked respectfully within the council's processes and procedures for the last decade in raising the issue of Sunday opening. While FiSH is a health focused, community organisation, the Western Isles has a history of Sabbath observance, and some councillors have stated that the issue of Sunday opening is one with religious connotations. Prior to the introduction of the Equality Act in 2010, the local council stated religion as a reason for the absence of Sunday operations. Recently, it has stated the reason for not opening is financial. "FiSH is pleased to help the council overcome their stated financial shortfall. The 1550 plus members of FiSH and other supporters are hopeful that this financial contribution will be treated in the same manner as other local groups who were successful in their request for additional week day hours." Alistair McBay, the National Secular Society's spokesperson for Scotland and vice president said, "We are delighted to be able to support these families in the Western Isles and their health initiative. As secularists, we have no objection to Sabbatarians staying indoors on Sunday and observing the Sabbath according to their custom but they need to understand that not all islanders share their religious beliefs. The local council now has no option but to open the leisure facility for the trial year. "Thank you to all who donated and made this victory possible." The council initially claimed that it couldn't consider opening the pool on Sundays for a yearlong trial period due to a lack of funds, but one councillor who supports the initiative said the real reason the council wouldn't approve Sunday opening was for religious reasons. Councillor Neil Beaton said that "It was apparent from the e-mails and letters I received that preserving the Sabbath was the main objection to Sunday opening, not the financial objections that were made." Despite the funds now being raised, the council is still being defiant. Since the fundraising campaign's success in hitting its target, the council have claimed that their block on Sunday swimming was "democratic", even though a local survey found over 70% of respondents supported opening the pool on Sundays. They also said there still needed to be a show of "local demand" – despite the successful campaign achieving its objective. The council are also now saying that their objections and not for "purely financial issues" and that they have "operational issues". Now armed with the funding to pay for the pool's opening however, local campaigners will continue to press the council to abide by the wishes of the majority of the people of Lewis. Lewis has a long history of religious fundamentalists blocking services from opening or running on the Sabbath, and Councillor Beaton said the council should distance itself from a "stifling sanctimonious Sabbatarian shroud." In recent decades however islanders have cheered the running of Sunday ferries, dwarfing a small number of Sabbatarian protestors, and a survey by FiSH found overwhelming support for opening the pool on Sundays.
	Government refuses to review discrimination against teachers in faith schools News \| Thu, 15th Dec 2016 The National Secular Society has criticised the Government for refusing to accept a recommendation from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to review the law which permits faith schools to discriminate against teachers on religious grounds. In a recent report on the law regarding religion and belief in the workplace, the EHRC called for the appointment of teachers by faith schools to be "modelled on the current occupational requirement exception set out in the Equality Act", meaning a genuine occupational requirement would be needed before a school could discriminate when hiring staff. The EHRC said a change in the law was necessary to ensure occupational requirements were genuine and that "teachers are able to pursue their careers without unjustifiable limitations being placed upon them". Exemptions to the Equality Act permit some faith schools to apply a religious test in appointing, remunerating and promoting all teachers, including head teachers. In Voluntary Controlled faith schools the religious test can only be applied to one fifth of positions – including the headteacher – which are classified as 'reserved'. These provisions also give the governors of some faith schools the right to discipline and dismiss teachers for any conduct, including private conduct outside the school, which they deem to be "incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets, of the religion of the school". In December this year a popular head teacher at a Roman Catholic school in Hampshire was forced out of his job because he is divorced and remarried. However, in a response to a parliamentary question tabled by NSS honorary associate Graham Allen MP, the Government said it was "important that faith schools are able to maintain their particular religious ethos and deliver the form of education which they have historically provided and which parents value." Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "Employment, equality and human rights law applies to the employment practices of all schools, and they must act reasonably and proportionately." He said the Government was not aware of any "firm evidence that schools are acting outside of this framework and have not been alerted to any alleged faith-discrimination cases from members of the school workforce." Mr Allen's question had asked the Secretary of State for Education what steps she was planning to obtain independent legal advice to establish whether sections 60 (4) and (5) of the School Standards Framework Act comply with the EU Employment Equality Directive Article 4 (2) and that the exceptions be legitimate and proportionate, following the concerns expressed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The National Secular Society has long argued that UK legislation relating to state funded faith schools licenses discrimination against teachers not of the faith of the school and breaches European employment laws in relation to discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. A legal academic advising the EHRC and the European Commission and the Society's own legal advice maintain the SSFA is in breach of the European Directive. In 2014 the European Commission announced it would take no further action against the UK Government after investigating complaints, submitted by the National Secular Society over employment discrimination in faith schools – a move described as "political" by the NSS. Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director said; "the Government's intransigence on this issue shows an alarming indifference to the plight of the increasing proportion of non-religious teachers who the law allows to be kept out of faith schools, and also to those left vulnerable to dismissal simply because religious bodies consider them to be 'sinners'. "If the Government expects publicly funded faith schools to act reasonably and proportionately in their employment practices then it should ensure this requirement is written into the law. At present many faith schools appear to have unfettered freedoms to unfairly discriminate on both religious and other grounds, such as sex or sexual orientation. We urge the Government to amend the law to clarify that faith schools are only permitted to discriminate where a genuine occupational requirement can be demonstrated." A recent Catholic School Census published by the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales (CES) shows that 41.9% of teachers in English Catholic faith schools are practising Catholics, despite just 8.7% of them being required to teach Religious Education. In Catholic primary schools 62.3% of teachers at Catholic, with 64.51% of them teaching RE. In total, 51% of the 48,745 teachers working in England's 2,142 Catholic state-funded schools are Catholic. Only a little over 1% of the British population attend a Catholic church on a normal Sunday.
	NSS urges Government to abandon plans to expand religious selection News \| Mon, 12th Dec 2016 The National Secular Society has responded to the Government's consultation on plans to remove the faith based free-school admission cap and criticised alternative measures to promote integration as "ineffective and tokenistic". Though acknowledging that the admissions cap had failed to prevent minority faith schools from being segregated, the NSS warned the Government that the cap was the "only meaningful effort" to "address the problems caused by faith-based schooling." At present, all oversubscribed faith based free-schools are subject to a 50% cap, requiring them to keep at least half of their places open to local children, regardless of religion or belief. However, the Catholic Education Service has refused to open new free schools, insisting on the ability to select all pupils on religious grounds. Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns director, said: "The Department for Education appears to have bullied into this proposal. Rather than being subservient to the Catholic Church, ministers should consider making religious involvement in publicly funded education conditional on the schools they run being non-discriminatory. "A further expansion of religiously selective faith schools is the antithesis of inclusive education. Whilst these proposals may create extra capacity in the schools system, they will do so by sacrificing equality and social cohesion. We urge the Government to abandon them." Measures suggested by the Government to ameliorate the segregation inherent in minority faith-based schools were "tokenistic" and likely to be "ineffective", the NSS said. One recommendation made by the Government to replace the cap is to require new faith schools to prove that there is demand for places at the school among parents of other faiths. The NSS response reminded the Government that this was not a new proposal. "Under the existing arrangements for opening schools, all free schools, including those with a designated faith or faith ethos, are required to demonstrate how they will be 'attractive to parents and pupils from outside your faith community'." The Department for Education already claims the requirement to be inclusive is "tested rigorously at every stage of assessment and 'pre-opening' as well as after schools open". The NSS suggested that "Given that this measure is already supposed to be in place, we are highly sceptical as to whether it will be enforced in the future." Support for a good local school should not be conflated with support for a faith school explicitly, the Society warned. The Casey Review into integration in the UK, launched last week, warned that "segregation appears to be at its most acute in minority ethnic and minority faith communities and schools". "If we don't want Britain to be religiously and ethnically segregated, our schools shouldn't be," the NSS submission said. Other DfE recommendations included asking schools to consider twinning arrangements with schools of other faiths, but the NSS said that this was "no substitute for ongoing real world interactions between pupils in integrated schools in the same school for every school day." The NSS said the Government was "deluded" if it believed its proposals would make minority faith schools more integrated, inclusive and appealing to those who do not share the religion of the school. You can read the NSS response in full here.
	Sister Sarah Kuteh: up steps the next so called victim of ‘Christian persecution’ Opinion \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 It has been another week in which we've seen Christians in the Middle East losing their lives to violence and persecution, but much media attention in the UK has instead focussed around the plight of a nurse, supposedly sacked for "offering to pray with her patients". Sister Sarah Kuteh was employed by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust as a nurse in the surgical pre-assessment unit. Part of her job involved completing a pre-operative assessment form which includes asking patients scheduled for surgery about their religion or belief to ensure any religious requirements are understood prior to surgery. But despite repeated warnings not to do so, Mrs Kuteh abused her position to evangelise her Christian faith to patients. Speaking on ITV's This Morning, Mrs Kuteh made clear that if a patient told her they were not religious, instead of simply recording this as her job requires, she would challenge such patients about their beliefs and use the opportunity to proselytise. Such behaviour is clearly a breach of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct and, unsurprisingly, resulted in numerous complaints being made against her. Mrs Kuteh has now become the latest in a long line of committed Christians to be paraded by Christian Concern, in order to peddle the false narrative that Christians in the UK are being persecuted for their beliefs. To illustrate just how manipulative and dishonest Christian Concern's telling of the story is, it's worth reading the below statement from Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, explaining what really happened: "We have a duty to our patients to ensure that when they are at their most vulnerable, they are not exposed to the unsolicited beliefs and/or views of others, religious or otherwise. Sarah Kuteh's dismissal was not because of any religious belief she held but how these beliefs were being conveyed to patients. Following several complaints from patients that the conversations were excessive, unwanted and not consensual her line manager directed her to concentrate on her nursing duties and refrain from preaching to patients. Regrettably there was no change in her conduct and the Trust felt it had no option but to handle her behaviour through the disciplinary process which resulted in her dismissal. The Trust felt given the full circumstance it acted appropriately and in the best interests of the patients in its care. Because her actions breached the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct, the case has been referred to the NMC." Patients clearly deserve better than to be subject to this kind of intrusive and inappropriate behaviour when they are at their most vulnerable in hospital. I'm quite sure Mrs Kuteh was acting with the best of intentions, but either she fails to understand the importance of professional standards of practice and behaviour, or chooses to ignore them. Either way, the hospital had a duty to act. Defending her actions in the media, Mrs Kuteh said: "How could you treat any patient... just looking at the physical needs and not their spiritual needs." The importance of 'spiritual care' is indeed recognised by the NHS. However, as the Royal College of Nursing's 'pocket guide to 'Spirituality in nursing care' makes clear, "spiritual care is not about imposing your own beliefs and values on another" or "using your position to convert". It is about recognising and responding appropriately to people's needs. This is what Mrs Kuteh has failed to do. And as the NHS Trust that employed her has pointed out, the hospital fully supports the spiritual and religious needs of its patients and staff by providing a multi faith chaplaincy and facilities to accommodate all beliefs. In taking the action it has against Mrs Kuteh the hospital isn't neglecting patients' spiritual care, it is protecting it. But none of this matters to those hell-bent on promulgating the false narrative of 'persecution' against Christians in Britain. They're simply pursuing an agenda of misleading the public into believing Christians need special exemptions from equality laws, enabling them to impose their religion on others or discriminate against gay people. They want a hierarchy of rights, with their religion at the top. They're aided and abetted by media outlets happy to produce 'fake news' in order to sensationalise and sell papers. Take for example, the Daily Mail's coverage of Mrs Kuteh's story. Their headline read: Nurse is sacked for offering to pray with her patients despite call by equality watchdog to end persecution of Christians". Mrs Kuteh wasn't simply sacked for 'offering to pray' with patients and the headline woefully misrepresents the Equality and Human Rights Commission's recent report which found no evidence that Christians were being persecuted in the UK. The EHRC has criticised politically correct organisations for their occasional over-sensitivity, but as their new guidance on religion and belief in the workplace makes absolutely clear, employers are well within their rights to place limits on discussions about religion or belief at work, particularly when it comes to treating patients in a healthcare setting. Interestingly, this story was written by the Mail's religion and education correspondent Jonathan Petre, who has just been made head of media for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Let's hope that Justin Welby demands higher standards of accuracy and journalistic integrity from Mr Petre than his current employer does. As for Mrs Kuteh, her case will now be heard by an employment tribunal, and once all the facts are laid bare, I fully expect the hospital to be vindicated. But for those claiming 'persecution' it hardly matters. With such an obliging media, any outcome is another opportunity to advance their agenda.
	MP says Government's silence over Louis Smith heralds "unwritten blasphemy law" News \| Thu, 15th Dec 2016 Conservative MP Charles Walker has sharply criticised the media for unleashing "a torrent of venom" against Louis Smith, and said the Government was "nowhere to be seen" when it should have been defending free expression. Mr Walker said the Government's silence over the hounding and death threats against Louis Smith "heralds, de facto, the reintroduction of an unwritten blasphemy law, enforced by threat and thuggery." He said the episode "shamed our nation and its laws." "In our liberal and open society, freedom of worship marches hand in hand with the freedom to lampoon religion. Quite simply, that is the deal." Walker said after The Sun released the video of Smith lampooning Islamic prayers "sensationalist reporting of his actions in some sections of the media resulted in the gymnast's receiving multiple death threats." Despite a "rich heritage of aiming both excoriating and gentle humour in the direction of Christianity", Walker said the BBC "placed itself firmly at the head of the mob." He drew attention to a Radio 5 Live interview where the presenter defined as 'Islamophobic' as "sort of hateful or it can mean mimicking or it can be taking the mickey" and said Smith had been "very, very offensive" and "shameful". In treating mockery of religion as "shameful" the presenter "placed a question mark over the motives and legacy of some of the UK's greatest deceased and living comedians," Walker said. "Louis Smith is never going to be the world's greatest comedian, but we—and the BBC—should be blind to that fact, because the law applies as much to gymnasts as it does to joke-tellers." He wrote to the BBC challenging why no condemnation of the death threats was made during the interview, despite the presenter finding time to condemn Smith, and warning that the "inquisitorial tone of the interview" heightened the "already significant threat to his wellbeing and safety." In response the BBC said that the interview helped Smith, because it meant he could "appease" "people who might be angry with him." Walker added that "the only person who is deserving of an apology is Louis Smith himself. He is owed an apology from the Muslim Council of Britain for its ridiculous overplaying of Muslim sensitivities towards their faith, for having toured the radio and television studios to be publicly humiliated and smeared, and for having missed his Olympic homecoming parade to visit mosques." The MBC said that Smith's apology fell "well short of addressing the hurt caused against Muslims", which Walker described as "uncharitable nonsense from an organisation that strives to be taken seriously." Walker also said that British Gymnastics should apologise to Smith for its "cowardly decision" to suspend him and that the BBC had treated Smith in a "callous and cruel" way" and behaved in a "wicked and irresponsible way". The National Secular Society has strongly welcomed Mr Walker's comments, particularly his criticism of the Government to be proactive in defending freedom of expression. Campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "The sensationalising of this private video by the media, and particularly The Sun, only contributed to a climate of censorship brought on by the unreasonable and reactionary views of some religious extremists. Too few spoke out for Louis Smith's right to freedom of expression, and the Prime Minister gave a troubling and weak answer when asked about the case at Prime Minister's Questions last month." When Mr Walker asked the Prime Minister about Louis Smith in November, Theresa May said that there "is a balance we need to find" and that Smith, despite being threatened with death, had a "responsibility to recognise the importance of tolerance of others." In early December Walker asked the Home Secretary why she had failed to give voice to the importance of defending free expression "during the manhunt and vilification of the gymnast Louis Smith".
	Call to found an Islamic faith school in Scotland ‘open to all’ News \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 An academic at the University of Edinburgh has called for the Scottish Government to open an Islamic faith school in response to the country's "multifaith and multicultural landscape". Dr Khadijah Elshayyal of the University of Edinburgh's Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary world said Scotland should open a state-sponsored Islamic faith school "open to children from all backgrounds". In response, the National Secular Society said: "It's nonsense to say that an Islamic faith school will be open to all. It is very hard to imagine why non-Muslim parents would want to send their child to a school with a religious ethos they don't share. "By their very nature faith schools are discriminatory and segregate children from one background. That does nothing to aid integration. "In the wake of the Casey Review on integration, which found that ethnic segregation was worst in minority faith schools, the very last thing we need is more divisive faith-based schooling. "Muslim state schools are not the answer to increasing religious diversity in Scotland." Though Muslims make up less than 1.5% of Scotland's population, the Muslim population is concentrated in specific areas, with some parts of Glasgow where almost half of the school-age population is from a Muslim background. The report said: "At the moment, there is no state-funded Muslim school in Scotland, although there is a strong tradition of state funding for Roman Catholic schools, as well as three state-funded Episcopalian schools and one state-funded Jewish school. "The evidence in this report suggests that, in view of the significant proportion of Muslims among school-aged children in some wards within Glasgow and Dundee, there is an opportunity for the Scottish Government to demonstrate its commitment to parity by taking steps towards funding a Muslim school. "While there may be opposition from some quarters to the potential expansion of the faith school sector, in the context of real anxieties around sectarianism for example, such a step would signal a solid intention to deliver equity in parental choice. "If such a school were open to children from all backgrounds, it would serve as an acknowledgment of Scotland's multi-faith and multicultural landscape, and could represent an opportunity for successful community engagement with the education system, as well as for inter-faith integration, interaction and learning." NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "Scotland has relatively little of the non-Christian religious diversity that England has, and it can avoid making some of England's mistakes when integrating religious minorities into society. "In the long-term, balkanising society by dividing children by their parents' faith will do nothing to help religious minorities or foster integration." The report seeks to "promote improved religious literacy and understanding," but Mr Evans added that dividing pupils by faith "will do nothing to promote understanding."
	Catholic education charity faces inquiry over handling of child abuse claims News \| Wed, 14th Dec 2016 A statutory inquiry has been opened by the Charity Commission into the St Laurence Education Trust and Ampleforth Abbey, over the Catholic charities' handling of sexual abuse allegations. The St Laurence Education Trust runs two prestigious independent Roman Catholic schools, the Ampleforth College and St Martin's Ampleforth. The Ampleforth Abbey religious community shares a site with Ampleforth College, which is at the centre of child sexual abuse allegations. The Commission said that the St Laurence Education Trust faced an investigation over "the charity trustees' approach to safeguarding and handling of allegations of sexual abuse" at Ampleforth College. "The investigation follows media reporting regarding individuals with links to Ampleforth College in connection with allegations of sexual abuse. The Commission has been engaging with the trustees on this matter since August 2016. A decision was taken to open the statutory inquiry on 15 November 2016 after considering further information from the trustees and the Commission's statutory duties." The Charity Commission is not investigating the allegations of abuse themselves, but the governance and response of the charity to allegations. The statutory inquiry will examine whether there has been "misconduct or mismanagement" by the charities' trustees and their "handling of safeguarding matters". Additionally, the investigation will consider "how the charities dealt with the risks to the charities and their beneficiaries arising from alleged abuse incidents, including the application of their safeguarding policy and procedures." It will also look at "the administration, governance and management of the charities by the trustees and whether or not the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law". The Commission stressed that it was not a "safeguarding authority" and that its inquiries into the St Laurence Education Trust and Ampleforth Abbey, a religious community that shares a site with Ampleforth College, would not go into the investigation of "allegations of abuse or actual incidents of abuse, whether historic or recent." "Anyone with concerns about specific incidents of alleged abuses, whether historic or recent, regarding any charity, should report their concerns to the police and the relevant safeguarding authorities," the Commission said. Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing many victims of abuse in the Catholic church, and an NSS council member, said that "there have been serious concerns for many years about the handling of complaints of child abuse at Ampleforth and indeed in the wider English Benedictine Congregation. These concerns have intensified following recent media stories. The decision of the Charities Commission to initiate a formal inquiry into these issues indicates the seriousness of the problem. It is imperative that religious organisations are held to the same standards as secular organisations when it comes to child protection."
	“Growing recognition” that circumcision of children is wrong, as Danish doctors call for it to end News \| Fri, 9th Dec 2016 The Danish Medical Association has made a "symbolic" statement calling for an end to male circumcision, arguing that the procedure should only ever be performed with "informed consent". The Association said that male circumcision involves "pain" and the "risk of complications" and that it was "ethically unacceptable" to perform the operation "without the informed consent of the person undergoing the procedure." "It is most consistent with the individual's right to self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision." Circumcision should be an "informed personal choice" left to the individual to decide for themselves when they come of age, the Association said. Though deeply critical of the practice, the Association has stopped short of calling for an outright ban, saying that it would be "difficult to predict the consequences" of a complete prohibition. Lisa Moller, President of the Medical Association's Ethics Committee, said that the areas "is ethically, culturally and religiously complex, and we worry whether a legal ban might result in unauthorised circumcisions." Instead, the new policy position says that the "process towards the elimination of circumcision of boys" should be undertaken in dialogue with the religious minorities that practice it. The statement was welcomed by Doctor Antony Lempert of the National Secular Society's Secular Medical Forum. "The Danish Medical Association has added its weight to the growing recognition that 'it is wrong to deny an individual the right to choose whether or not they want to be circumcised.' This unequivocal position statement, welcomed by the SMF, recognises that the surgical infliction of parents' religious or cultural beliefs on a normal child's healthy body represents a life-long burden to be borne by the owner of the body. "It is encouraging that Denmark has joined the growing number of countries willing to challenge harmful religious privilege and practice. The SMF supports the choice not to call for a ban. There is no need to ban an activity that would already be illegal were existing laws against violent assault on vulnerable people implemented. "The principles of child safeguarding are that children should be protected from serious avoidable harm inflicted on them until such time as they have matured sufficiently to protect themselves and to make their own decisions about what is best for them. That these principles still need to be stated in defence of a child's right to protection from assault is a reflection of the enduring power wielded by adults with religious beliefs. "The assumption that the child belongs or will later choose to belong to their parents' belief system or culture is increasingly exposed as wishful thinking. "In the name of tolerance, cultural relativism and widespread misinformation, necessary challenge to traditional practices has been ducked mainly for fear of offending religious adults or communities. But these communities are not homogenous and many within them would welcome support for increased child protection." Dr Lempert added that in response to campaign work by the Secular Medical Forum, the British Medical Association was considering an update to its position on male circumcision, last revised in 2006.