Kernow/Cornwall: Negative Attitude to Cornish Unsurprising
Devon and Cornwall Police have refused a request from the Celtic League which had asked that those who wished could record their ethnicity as Cornish on official forms.
The force excuse their inertia on the issue citing mandates determined `nationally'.
The attitude is unsurprising given that the Force was one of those that scored least positively in the Celtic League Pan-Celtic survey of police forces in relation to their attitude to Celtic identity and culture
The full response from the Constabulary is set out below:
"Inspector John Jackson Diverse Communities Team Devon and Cornwall Police HQ Exeter EX2 7HQ
16th October 2009
Dear Mr Tal-e-bot
Thank you for your recent communication regarding the issue of recording Cornish as an ethnicity classification.
As you will be aware the requirement for recording ethnicity is nationally mandated and not something we, as a service, have control over.
There is a faculty within our recording perimeters to record an ethnicity code of 'other' where the proscribed self defined ethnicity codes are not accepted by the person as being of relevance to them. This will be a letter followed by the number '9'.
However, the nationally mandated system does not allow for 'text' to be input only the code number. I would point out that the question you raise is equally true of any 'white other' background, say French, Polish etc.
As such and in line with mandated requirements we will not be looking to alter the way in which we record, input and store ethnicity data. Should this position change in the future I can assure you your comments will be taken into consideration.
Yours sincerely
John Jackson Diverse Communities Team"
See related article on Celtic News at:
(Material for this article supplied by Rhisiart Ta-e-bot)
J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
22/10/09
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