Introduction and context
The Faith Based Regeneration Network UK (FbRN) has been asked to establish:
- How the regional forums of faiths (RFFs) relate to the structures of regional governance
- How they relate to social action, regeneration and community development
- Where their funding and support comes from in undertaking these roles
The Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN) is conducting research as part of its own core work programme, to establish information about the inter faith work of the Forums, including how this is funded and resourced. Information from this will also help inform the development of the CLG Framework. FbRN and IFN have worked closely together to ensure that their respective research is complementary.
The regional forums to which this report refers are those which are recognised by regional governance instruments as the primary forum in their region and which, in most cases, nominate to the 'faith seat' in the Regional Assembly. There are regional forums of faiths in all regions except London and the North East where there are processes to bring one into being. For the sake of clarity in this report, the term RFF is used generically, though the exact nomenclature differs across the regions. Where just one regional RFF is being referred to, its particular name or abbreviation is used (see list of abbreviations above).
It is anticipated that readers of this report will need to access the material in a number of ways. It first looks at the information from the existing RFFs in relation to the questions asked by CLG. Then there is information on the stage of development in London and the North East and plans for the future. A section on the potential and resources needed for RFFs to develop follows.
Appendix 1 is a summary of each existing RFF, this means that there is some repetition of material from the main report, but we envisage that this presentation of material may be most useful for some purposes.
Appendix 2 is a copy of the questionnaire sent to RFFs and Appendix three is a list of those consulted in preparing this report.
Appendix 3 lists the people consulted in the preparation of this report.