Report on the Prejudice Free Dorset Conference 2016
Background
The second Prejudice Free Conference took place at the Hamworthy Club, Magna
Road, Wimborne, Dorset on Monday 10 October 2016.
The event’s objectives were:





Support Hate Crime Awareness Week 2016
To report back to communities and stakeholders progress since the last
Conference
To introduce the Government Hate Crime Action Plan
To develop the priorities for Prejudice Free Dorset 2017-18 in line with the
Government action plan
To involve the community and key stakeholders in the work of Prejudice Free
Dorset
Presentations on the day were:
1. Open by DCC Vaughan on behalf of the Prejudice Free Dorset Chair Nicky
Searle
2. Overview of activity on the priorities identified at the last Conference in
January 2016:
a. Communications (Kaz Duke-Glover, Dorset Police)
b. Third Party Reporting (Carrie Sanderson, CPS Wessex)
c. Education (Daniel Biggs, Borough of Poole)
3. Introducing the Government Action Against Hate Plan (Kaz Duke-Glover on
behalf of Prejudice Free Dorset Chair Nicky Searle)
4. Close and next steps (Prejudice Free Dorset Vice Chair Cathryn Street, Victim
Support)
Attendance
Attendance was good, approximately 100 people in attendance, places were
allocated through Eventbrite for this Conference and this enabled much better
monitoring of numbers.
Workshops
There were four workshops based on the Action Against Hate Plan, the purpose of
the workshops was to discuss how the Action Against Hate Plan can be translated
for Dorset and to begin to develop realistic, achievable actions for Dorset. The
workshops were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Improving Support for Victims
Increasing Reporting
Prevention
Responding
Each workshop was facilitated by two Prejudice Free Dorset members/professionals
and each workshop was encouraged to discuss various aspects of the overarching
subject.
Outcomes of the workshops have been recorded and will be fed into work plans for
Prejudice Free Dorset; however there were a number of recurring themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Communication
Third Party Reporting Centres
Education
Knowing what support is available and where to access it
Restorative Justice
Training
These areas will now form the priorities for Prejudice Free Dorset activity for 2017-18
to align with the Action Against Hate Plan.
Feedback
Evaluation sheets were collected from attendees, the feedback from attendees was
really positive.
Learning for future conferences is:




Speakers to use non hand held microphones
More time in workshops / less workshops
Consider a venue to the West of the County
More attendees
Next Steps
Communications, third party reporting and education have established working
groups in place as these were the three themes identified at the first Conference,
these groups should continue to meet and drive activity on the basis of the
ideas/comments from the workshops.
It is recommended that the following working groups are established to take forward
the additional themes from the Conference:
1. Restorative Justice
2. Training
3. Support
It is also recommended that planning begins immediately for next year’s Conference,
which again should be held to mark Hate Crime Awareness Week.
Conclusion
This report will be discussed at the next Prejudice Free Dorset meeting along with
the full details of the workshop findings collated from the event to enable
identification of leads and teams to take forward the work as described above.
Another successful Conference bringing together communities and stakeholders to
make a difference and drive change and tackle prejudice and hate across Dorset.