#DontSubmitToStonewall - suggested quick action by Legal Feminist

[stumbledin]

(From twitter post)

A follow up on the Stonewall long read: this one is a very short call for a simple (2-3 minute) action.

Please share widely. #DontSubmitToStonewall twitter.com/hashtag/DontSubmitToStonewall?src=hashtag_click

Please share and submit a request or two. Whatdotheyknow.com makes it very straightforward. If you don't dare ask your own public authority employer, maybe swap with a friend.

legalfeminist.org.uk/2021/02/04/shining-a-light-on-stonewalls-activities/?_thumbnail_id=451

Too slow Women are amazing and every public body in the UK has now been FOId on the back of this

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Too slow Women are amazing and every public body in the UK has now been FOId on the back of this

WOW.

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Too slow Women are amazing and every public body in the UK has now been FOId on the back of this

Not all of them. Still a few more to go, but you might have to look harder to find one that hasn't been FOId yet.

What is this about? What info are we looking for by making a FOI request about Stonewall?

It's building on the successful Edinburgh University FOI legalfeminist.org.uk/2021/02/01/submission-and-compliance/

Basically finding out how much organisations pay Stonewall to be Diversity Champions, what they do to get access to the programme, what they get out of it, and how much effort has to be diverted away from other stuff the members of staff might be doing.

The first two Diversity Champion public bodies I checked hadn’t been done, so there is definitely plenty of scope for further action.

I really want to participate in this but I have a unique surname. What happens if I make up a name? I suspect that would actually be counter-productive?

You can submit a request under an alias.

@allmywhat I use a pseudonym for WhatDoTheyKnow as I submitted an FOI to my own employer (and for a while had a desk next to the FOI officer ).
It would be sensible to make a different email address to be safe, using your pseudonym.

Oh. I may be wrong. I used my middle name and my maiden name which is an uncommon name but it's so long since I used it no one would recognise me, especially combined with a different first name.

This advice from Maya Forstater:

"Note that when you register for What Do They Know you need to do it with some version of your real name. This will be published along with your request (but your email address won’t be).
If you are concerned about anonymity or searchability register with the least identifiable version of your name e.g. initial plus surname (if you have a relatively common surname – this doesn’t work for me obviously!) or you can use your initial plus married or maiden name (whichever you don’t use in professional life)."

Does anyone know an easy way to find out which Diversity Champions have not been issued with an FOI yet? It would be good to get as many as possible in the system but now there’s over 200 requests its hard to sort through.

Someone has FOI’d my governing body. So glad as the Stonewalling of their social media policy has actually affected my career choices. I would love to see them properly reviewing Stonewall’s input.

Won’t mention the name, but thanks to everyone taking part in this.

#Dontsubmittostonewall

Now at 200 - it was 160 on Tuesday.

284 now!

I've just done a couple.

Wow nearly at 300, that must be nearly done - how many bloody champions for Stonewall are there?

Can you foi schools?

Anyone else having difficulties registering with What do they know. Haven't received email to confirm. ( I've looked in Spam too)

I am loving that it's so hard to find one who haven't been done already! I've done one, will do more when I've got more time (and peace from DC)

It's odd the list of diversity champions hasn't been updated since 2015. I've done a couple to names that weren't on the list just incase...

Though most organisations are proud to proclaim their stonewall credentials so it can usually be checked on their website if you are looking for any that have slipped through the net.

Can you foi schools?

Yes I think you can, but if you can't find them on the website you can email them direct.

@Tibtom

Can you foi schools?

Yes, but schools will be probably be members of the Stonewall schools champions scheme, rather than the diversity champions scheme, so you'd have to change the wording of the FOI to make sure you get some information.

Thousands of schools are listed on the what do they know site, so check there first, and if it's not there, you can ask them to add it.

A separate campaign to FOI schools might be worth doing. I mentioned that on the AIBU thread, but I don't think it was discussed further.

Just done one. Exciting! I found a uni near me that hadn't been done on the third attempt. So definitely still worth searching.

I'm really interested in the equality impact assessments they all did.

I have received FOI requests in a school, through WDTK, so I think yes, you can FOI schools (not on this topic though!).

Oven submitted a few more requests today. There’s well over 330 now.
Might also be worth submitting a request to your local Safeguarding Board. Whilst they might not use Stonewall, someone might start noting there’s an issue and start digging into why.

OK apparently requests submitted under a pseudonym are invalid, and if they suspect you are using a pseudonym they can ask for proof of identity and refuse to process the request. See this mad exchange.
www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/exploration_of_possible_impacts#incoming-1714467

I won't risk using a pseudonym then. Someone who can't find any un-requested send me a DM? I can tell you two that aren't done!