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Yorkshire rap for anti-bullying Tsars
By Ian Rosser AN AWARD-winning anti-bullying charity has criticised the Government's latest attempt to help youngsters who suffer at the hands of yobs.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) is a waste of public money that will do little to support families, according to Liz Carnell, founder of Bullying Online.
Instead, she claims, cash earmarked for the scheme will simply end up in the hands of local authorities already failing to tackle the problem.
Her comments follow the announcement of a team of bullying Tsars employed to tackle the issue on a regional and national level.
"Five of these anti-bullying Tsars work for LEAs so a huge part of the Government's 570,000 for dealing with school bullying will be going straight into local government coffers," said Mrs Carnell.
"We think this is a waste of money and it's certainly not what we understood would happen when the Alliance was launched.
"We thought this was new money for pioneering schemes.
"LEAs already help schools deal with bullying and advise them on strategies so LEAs will be paid twice for simply doing their job.
Mediate
"We understood these tsars would mediate in cases where parents had failed to get a solution from the school and LEA but parents will be very unlikely to contact a Tsar who works for the same LEA with which they are already having problems."
Since it was formed in 1999, Bullying Online has been contacted by thousands of parents and children at its website bullying.co.uk.
Last year alone, the charity worked with 8,000 people, and has picked up a stream of national awards for its work.
"We also question whether the Tsar for Yorkshire and the Humber who is based in Lancashire, and the one for the West Midlands,who is based in London, will be able to do their jobs effectively from so far away," said Mrs Carnell, who is a sub-editor at the YEP.
According to the ABA, which was launched by the Government in July, each regional coordinator will identify and build on existing anti-bullying strategies in their region.
Their roles will include creating regional networks linking with other groups such as education advisers, youth organisations, health workers and parent support services.
The anti-bullying Tsar for Yorkshire and the Humber is Oldham-based John Stead, who works for the NSPCC.
A spokeswoman for ABA said: "ABA brings together 50 national organisations from the voluntary and private sectors, LEAs professional associations and the research community into one network.
Exciting
"It's the first time such a broad collection has been brought together to commit to a national strategy to address bullying and it's quite exciting."
The spokeswoman denied that organisations were being paid twice for doing the same work.
ian.rosser@ypn.co.uk
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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