Senior councillors quizzed over £2,500 subscription to LGTB campaign organisation Stonewall.

A member of the public raised the issue earlier in the year and at a meeting of the full Calderdale Council when a councillor queried it, in the wake of some controversy around Stonewall.

Coun Sophie Whittaker (Con, Rastrick) referred to organisations including the BBC, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and some Government departments withdrawing from the organisation’s Diversity Champion Scheme.

Coun Whittaker asked Cabinet member for Resources, Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) to explain why the council saw fit to renew its subscription with Stonewall and if she believed the scheme was a good use of taxpayers’ money, given the administration was constantly reminding councillors of the budget constraints the authority had.

Coun Dacre said the matter had been considered carefully, the subscription had been renewed for a year and would be considered again at the end of that year.

“We have had a lot of useful assistance from Stonewall in relation to staff matters and how to deal with equality issues over the last few years.

“They provided an invaluable service when we were looking at the issues in relation to trans rights for instance, which was the one that was particularly contentious at the time we were looking at the subscription.

“We also consulted with our LGTB+ group within the workforce and it was their view that they very much wanted us to maintain the subscription to Stonewall and that was obviously a strong factor in the decision that we made,” she said.

In those circumstances, said Coun Dacre, she believed it was an appropriate use of public funds – but it would be kept under review.

Coun Felciity Issott (Con, Ryburn) said while it was appropriate to seek the view of the LGBT community, the council should also consider the views of other organisations across the area to get a broad range of views on what was a very important issue.

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