Wales Church Council Meeting: Child Punishment Bill, New President, and Education Reforms , Lecture notes of Law

Download Wales Church Council Meeting: Child Punishment Bill, New President, and Education Reforms and more Lecture notes Law in PDF only on Docsity! Free Church Council of Wales Minutes of 14 November 2019 meeting at South Wales Baptist College, Richmond Road, Cardiff Present: Rheinallt Thomas (President); Gethin Rhys, Martin Spain (Treasurer) Vaughan Salisbury; Irfon Roberts; Eirian Wyn; Aled Davies; Judith Morris; Alun Tudur; Ian Morris; Simon Walkling; Brian Matthews; Meirion Morris; Steffan Wiliam (Translator); Helen Jones (Secretary) Apologies: Peter Dewi Richards; Chris Gillham; George Baker; Tim Daniel; Nerys Siddall; Gareth Morgan Jones; Dyfrig Rees; Aled Jones; Bryn Williams; Peredur Owen Griffiths; Paul Rochester 1. Welcome – Everyone was welcomed to the meeting. Two new members were present - Brian Matthews from Wrexham, Past President of PCW and Simon Walkling (URC) from Pontypridd. The translator Steffan Wiliam was also welcomed. Ian Morris announced that he would be leaving the meeting at mid-day and Eirian Wyn after lunch. Apologies were accepted. The Council was informed that Peredur Owen Griffiths would find it difficult to attend some meetings in the future due to his work as an Enabler with the Covenanting Churches in Wales and undertaking the role left by Sally Thomas for Cytûn after her retirement. 2. Devotion – Despite her absence, Nerys Siddall sent the devotion for the meeting which was read by the President. There was an appreciation of Nerys’ effort and her message. 3. Minutes 23 May 2019 –The minutes were accepted as being an accurate record of May’s meeting. Aled Davies proposed their acceptance and Martin Spain seconded. 4. Matters arising from Minutes. 3ii. Theological/ Ministerial Training – It was noted that the 3 denominations were represented at the meeting with Coleg Cenedlaethol (National College) last May. 3iv. Area Ministry Document – It was noted that there would a be a meeting in January. 8. Eisteddfod Sunday Worship/ Service. It was decided that the FCCW should write to the Board of the National Eisteddfod requesting that the Sunday Morning Worship should be re-established in the Pavilion. It was noted that there had been a past problem distinguishing between those who attended the service for whom there was no charge for entry and the fee paying public who wished to attend the Pavilion competitions. It was explained that the Welsh Government in Cardiff intended to pay the Sunday tickets for locals who lived within a 20 mile radius of the Eisteddfod. Hence, guaranteeing free entry to the local community. This would mean that there would be a worthy attendance to the Sunday morning worship service. There are no large chapels in the Tregaron area to accommodate the numbers who had attended the service at Seion, Llanrwst. 9. New Curriculum Consultation Document – Action Point (May): Aled was thanked for the information received. Members of FCCW should inquire within their denominations about work done in schools by volunteers and inform Aled. Denomination Secretaries should send an up to date register to Aled by November 2020. Aled was thanked for his work. It was noted that it was important to remember the difference between collective worship and religious education lessons. 11. Two services were held to distribute Gee Medals in September. One in North Wales and the other in South Wales. Everyone received an appeal letter from the Sunday School Council. An invitation was given to attend the Thanksgiving Service for the work of GIG (Hope for Wales) and beibl.net on 29 February 2020 at Penuel, Carmarthen. Action Points: 1. Write to the Board of the National Eisteddfod requesting the re-establishment of the Sunday Morning worship service in the Pavilion. 2. Individuals and Denominations to send revised data to Aled Davies concerning volunteer work in schools and update information already given by November 2020. 5. Child Punishment – Jon Luxton – Cognation Associates Jon Luxton from Public Relations Company “Re: cognition” was welcomed to the meeting. This is the company which has been commissioned by the Welsh Government to engage with the public concerning the new bill on Child punishment. Jon was anxious to attend the meeting and make a short presentation, answer any questions raised and give his contact details if further information was required. It was a clear concise presentation with an opportunity for reaction and discussion about the Bill’s obligation. Jon said that evaluation was required to appreciate how the faith community throughout Wales reacted to the Bill. He had already visited many faith communities and realised that they all had differing viewpoints on the subject of child punishment and that they were not necessarily literal in their belief within the differing religions. The main worry of religious bodies was that the state was interfering with personal family life and that parents were being punished for disciplining their children. The background: The purpose of the Bill is to abolish the common law defence of reasonable punishment so that it is no longer available in Wales to parents or those acting in loco parentis as a defence to assault or battery against a child. The defence currently applies in both the criminal and civil law. Under the criminal law, it applies in respect of the common law offences of assault and battery; and under civil law, in respect of the tort of trespass against the person. The Bill is intended to support children’s rights by prohibiting the use of physical punishment, through removal of this defence. The intended effect of the Bill, together with an awareness-raising campaign and support for parents, is to bring about a further reduction in the use and tolerance of the physical punishment of children in Wales. There is an effective video which can be downloaded at www.Childrenwalesbill.gov.wales Jon Luxton will write to all denomination secretaries to explain the bill. It was explained that this Bill was equivalent to that which existed in 53 other countries and complemented the rights of the child. It would take away the right of bad/cruel parents from providing the argument that lawful punishment was their sanction for their children. There is a campaign to publicise and aid parents from many other cultures that laws and values in this country are different. There are parents in Wales who share a similar mentality regarding punishment which belonged to ideals of previous generations. Many of these believe that this takes away their choice of parenting. There are classes to be had to aid parents. The hope is to create better parents but emotional matters will arise. There will not be a great change in the law but the Bill takes away the element of “reasonable punishment”. Jon and his associate partner Louise were thanked for their contribution and explanations of the Bill. Jon Luxton may be contacted via email: info@cognitionassociates.co.uk Ian Morris left the meeting. Action Point: The secretary to forward email addresses of General Denomination Secretaries to Jon Luxton in order for him to fully explain the child punishment Bill to them. 6. Education (note Appendix sent with meeting papers) Jon also stayed for the Education item on the Agenda. It was understood that he would be present as a Government consultant. Vaughan was thanked for his report which was distributed as an Appendix before the meeting and for his response to the questions raised in the Curriculum paper concerning Religious Education lessons. Two points were raised: the right of parents to remove their child from Religious Education lessons and the second was the change of name to Worldviews because the content regarded the humanist standpoint. From an educational perspective future religious education lessons will be a part of the Humanities subject. This will follow themed lessons within the subject. Some 15 minutes will be a Religious Education lesson and it will be attached to either a history and/or geography lesson. There has been a custom of removing children out of lessons but with the new Curriculum it would be impractical to assess a child’s progress if they were removed for 15 minutes of the lesson. It was noted that the child would educationally lose out by being ignorant of Religious Education and this would lead to biased opinion. In order to ensure a complete Religious Education there needs to be a broad outlook on religion instead of children who are ignorant about the subject. By changing the name of the subject to “Worldviews” – this would create new problems which needed to be addressed – as the word is plural. CORE in England decided on the Curriculum without consulting and visiting Wales. Their report was rejected in Wales because of this. Jon Luxton said that Vaughan’s contribution was similar to many others he had heard. It is obvious that there were many differing opinions on the name of the subject. Cardiff University suggested that the name remain the same because the content was valuable and included Faith, Philosophy and other religions. It was stated that there wasn’t a basic definition to be had. Vaughan noted that the paper undermined “non-religious” and this often infuriated the situation. There was a wide range of opinion on the subject by other organisations. It was mentioned that the Welsh Humanist Society had successfully lobbied M.P.’s and A.M.’s. There are less than a 1,000 members of the society compared with 60,000 Christians who are members of the FCCW. It is worrying that a small minority could successfully have their name on the subject. At the end of the discussion the President asked if everyone was happy with the response on Vaughan’s Consultation paper and there were no objections. Rheinallt was thanked for translating the English response of the paper into Welsh on behalf of Vaughan. Vaughan was thanked for his considered response. Jon Luxton was thanked for remaining to listen to the Council’s discussion and making general comments on behalf of the Government.