Party Vibe

the labour MP decided it wasn’t a valuable way for children to spend their time :yakk:

this time bradshaw wasn’t guilty – it was a decision made in England independently of the MP’s at Whitehall level by staff at the Department for Education and Skills

http://www.woodcraft.org.uk/news/article/39

DfES claimed that woodcraft weren’t showing how they’d met their targets or showed “value for money” (perhaps because they aren’t attracting corporate sponsorship like the Scouts?)

there is also an allegation that this happened because Woodcraft folk were involved in the 2003 anti-war protests..

but the Welsh and Scots are still funding this group…

http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,,1439170,00.html

Woodcraft folk are however challenging the DfES decision, as the officers have not given sufficient info on why the grant was refused. And if its an individual officers personal prejudices which led to the loss of the grant; that person is actually in breach of the Civil Service Code..

This is a link to their campaign to raise awareness of this issue…

http://www.woodcraft.org.uk/library/15

however, he did say that he wouldn’t be supporting it in response to a letter about it

complicity

the biggest irony is that the Woodcraft folk were set up by the Labour party (in the days when it actually stood for democratic socialism)

other labour MPs have even tried to put forward a motion against this decision (and they haven’t got in trouble for it)

MPs (of all parties) seem to forget that they can actually challenge their parties decision…

Some of my work colleagues support the woodcraft folk!

I’ve had a look at their site, and I can’t help but think that the real reason is that the organisation is “too anarchic” for the liking of Government…. unlike Scouts they actually get the young people involved in the policy and decision making, so it isn’t all about competing and conforming to get trophies etc (you do get badger points though for doing good stuff!)