This is especially true of Kingston with its rich pattern of diverse ethnic communities.

The constitution of the party says that the "Liberal Democrats exist to build a society where none shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.", and this explains our fundamental belief in equality of opportunity in all aspects of life.   It also explains our opposition to the Asylum and Immigration Bill before it became law, passing a resolution against it in Council, despite the opposition of the Conservatives.  Leader of the Council, Derek Osbourne continues to press the government to repeal this racist legislation.

A particularly important part of our commitment is through direct support to ethnic communities through grants.  The Council funds KREC with a grant of about £46,000 each year, and increased their funding in 1996 to enable them to retain a Community Worker when their funding was cut from an outside body.  The Council has also given grants of £67,000 for the forthcoming year to groups working within ethnic communities such as language schools and the Milaap Centre.

W have supported initiatives as part of the European Year Against Racism, and included a Conference on Equality and Diversity within our Opening up the Council initiative.

We have successfully bid for Section 11 funding to help bilingual pupils, and our first ever Section 11 funded post was funded under a Liberal Administration on the Council in 1986.  We have worked with AZTEC to fund family literacy projects to help families who do not speak English as their first language.  We have just bid to fund a new nursery for bilingual pupils with Section 11 funding, and received praise from the Home Office for the service we provide to pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds.  We have worked with members of the community from the Indian sub-continents to get access to books in Indian and Pakistani languages.  Our anti-bullying policy in schools recognises and opposes racist bullying.

We realise the importance of CCTV in preventing racial attacks and other forms of harassment so that the town centres are safer for all members of the community, and April will see CCTV operational in Kingston town centre.

Our policy has been to open up the Council to all local residents and help them have access to council services and be part of the decision making process.  The neighbourhood committee systems mean that meetings are held in local communities, not all in the Guildhall in Kingston.  We actively encourage all local residents to come along and have their say.

The Council now produce more leaflets in more different languages than ever before to encourage people to take advantage of all the services the Council has to offer and to ensure that people from ethnic minorities are fully aware of what the Council is doing on their behalf.

Liberal Democrat Group.