Warwickshire County Council: Leader claims children are 'indoctrinated' by Pride displays

The claims were made in response to questions at last week’s cabinet meeting in which the Reform UK panel of councillors in charge of major service areas voted without dissent to bring in new rules governing displays in the county’s libraries and other public spaces.

A review, led by cabinet leads on libraries Councillor Mike Bannister (Nuneaton Abbey), health Councillor Anne-Marie Sonko (Earl Craven) and children, families and education Councillor Wayne Briggs (Arbury), found children’s spaces to be “well managed, child friendly and appropriately designed” with “no significant concerns” and adult themes “consistently located away from children’s areas”.

However, the lack of formal policies and inconsistencies between sites was referenced with a recommendation for guidance on the content and positioning of book displays to be updated, “particularly to cover sensitive topics and the location and content of displays near children’s library areas”.

While “no evidence was found of inappropriate display placement” and “library staff demonstrated political impartiality and applied existing policies consistently”, Reform councillors want “clearer guidance” and the inclusion of “criteria for local selection, balance, prominence, age suitability (and) children’s areas… to ensure displays are proportionate and politically neutral”.

The “consistent use of corporate branding" will also be looked into.

Reform's stance

It was argued by political opponents, before and after the review, that Reform was attempting to fix something that wasn’t broken based on ideology but Cllr Finch insisted there were grounds to act.

“The report that has been given, it may not consider the photographic evidence (of Pride displays) to be of concern but as an administration we believe it is,” he said.

“We believe that displays in public areas, in the entrances, in foyers, in children’s areas, are not appropriate and the public would agree with us on that.”

Citing the lack of current policy, he said Reform would be “creating a guidance that is fair, isn’t politically spun in a way where there are some things that shouldn’t be in there, where children can go to libraries and read books that they so choose and not (be) indoctrinated to go into a certain way and read certain things”.

“We shouldn’t be promoting or putting out displays of certain things,” he added.

Use of 'indoctrinated' was like a red rag to a bull for opposition councillors who were interrupted by Cllr Finch during their addresses to cabinet. Some attempted to keep talking or interject, leading to all-too-familiar squabbles, sarcasm, smirks and political swipes.

Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Sarah Boad (Leamington North) asked for evidence of indoctrination with Cllr Finch holding aloft a picture from Warwick, stating that “certain books that should not be in children-facing areas” and that “children don’t need to talk about or learn those things yet”.

He added that Shipston also had a Pride display at its main entrance during Pride month – June – but, in what appeared to be a rare softening towards accepting their place in public settings, he said that library staff in Alcester and Atherstone had “put them in appropriate areas”.

He said the differences were a “grey area” that needed to be addressed by policy but there was no clarification in any of the discussions or papers whether any specific displays would be stopped altogether.

Reform councillors have openly and privately objected to the Pride flag flying from Shire Hall during Pride month.

Questions over purpose

Councillor Nick Scott (Green, Warwick South), who was also interrupted by Cllr Finch, noted her dismay that the overview and scrutiny committee’s request to be provided with the terms of reference for the review had not been seen through.

She went on to ask whether a mission statement covering the library service's "purpose, values and responsibilities" would come forward ahead of the guidance being issued "so future decisions can be assessed against an agreed framework".

She also queried the costs of implementing the changes.

Cllr Bannister accused her of ”nit picking beyond the extreme”.

“Things change,” he said, a comment that Cllr Finch laughed at.

“It is not going to cost any money, it is part of the day-to-day processes of being at work and receiving new guidelines,” continued Cllr Bannister.

“We have set in place the first step towards establishing a libraries policy. As things evolve, we may go further and deal with the issue you raise about a mission statement. I don’t know exactly where you are coming from on that.”

Questions over Reform’s priorities and assertions that this was a waste of councillor and officer time were rejected by the other two cabinet members involved in the review.

Cllr Briggs said: “We used the time wisely to explore other things like how we can use library room hire and perhaps circulate books more effectively.

“The (displays) issue is going to be in the public but it wasn’t strictly about that. I certainly learned a lot about what the service provides and it was quite a productive task.”

Cllr Sonko added: “I never had a better time than going round these libraries.

“They were very professionally run, we had discussions about possibilities for apprenticeships, there was talk about some getting air conditioning because it was too hot (in the summer).

“To infer it was a waste of time, you are so wrong.

"I learned so much from these visits.”