Open call for evidence

Independent review into civil unrest in Leicester 2022

Published 7 May 2024

Applies to England

Call for evidence: independent review into civil unrest in Leicester 2022

1. Topic of call for evidence

This call for evidence seeks views on:   

The experiences of Leicester residents who were involved in or affected by the civil unrest that took place in September 2022, why this happened and what could be done differently to prevent these issues in future.  

Local organisations who work with communities in Leicester, particularly those directly affected by the events in 2022.   

National and international organisations with expertise in social integration, cohesion and any other factors that are relevant to the Review, who can share research and learning.

2. Scope of call for evidence  

In early 2023 the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, commissioned Lord Ian Austin of Dudley to chair an independent review into the unrest that occurred in Leicester in September 2022.  

Lord Austin is working with Professor Hilary Pilkington and Dr Shaaz Mahboob to establish: 

• what happened?

• why?

• what can be done differently to improve social cohesion and prevent these issues happening in future?

The independent Panel will report their findings and recommendations for the City of Leicester and national government later this year.  

This call for evidence relates to events that took place in Leicester, England, in September 2022 only.  

3. Introduction and background  

Leicester is a hyper-diverse ‘gateway’ city. It is home to many communities, particularly from within the Indian diaspora, and has a proud history of inclusivity. The civil unrest in September 2022 was widely reported in local, national and international media to be the result of tensions between young men in British Muslim and British Hindu communities with Indian heritage. The Independent Panel will be working with local people and organisations to understand the full picture.  

The Panel recognise the complex and sensitive issues surrounding these events and the impact on local communities. This Review is not an exercise in apportioning blame. The Panel is committed to developing independent, evidence-based findings and recommendations, informed by local people who were directly affected, and experts in community integration and cohesion, that can help Leicester build on its strengths and address its challenges.   

The Panel understand that there may be barriers to engaging with their Review. They want to provide as many opportunities as possible for Leicester residents and other stakeholders to have their say and ensure all voices can be heard. The Panel are inviting responses from the following groups:  

• Individual members of the public who live in Leicester now and/or during the period of unrest and who were involved in and/or impacted by the events that took place in September 2022

• Frontline practitioners in social integration, cohesion and counter-extremism roles

• Representatives from local authorities, including elected Councillors, Chief Executives, Directors, officers and frontline employees

• Representatives from public bodies, including the police, schools and colleges, and other service providers

• Representatives from local partnerships and bodies, such as Community Safety Partnerships and Local Resilience Forums

• Journalists

• Politicians

• Academics engaged in research on social cohesion, community resilience and extremism issues

• Those who work in think-tanks, charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in roles that are related to social cohesion, community resilience, extremism and social media disinformation

• Private sector organisations, including local businesses

The questions address the key objectives of the Review. Responses will be analysed and used to inform the Panel’s findings and recommendations.   

We appreciate full and honest answers to this call for evidence. Your opinions are valuable to us and we are very grateful for the time taken to respond to this call for evidence. We expect the questionnaire to take 30 minutes to complete.  

If you require any support, or find any questions within the call for evidence upsetting please consider contacting a support helpline:  

• Victim Support 24/7 Helpline: 08 08 16 89 111  

• Samaritans: 116 123  

• CALM for men 5pm to midnight: 0800 58 58 58  

• Papyrus 9am to midnight: 0800 068 41 41 or text 07860 039967  

4. How to respond  

Responses to this call for evidence should be submitted using this online form: Leicester Review call for evidence.

If you are unable to access the response form, due to a disability for example, please contact leicesterreview@levellingup.gov.uk for an alternative response form.   

Please contact leicesterreview@levellingup.gov.uk or call 0303 444 0823 for assistance with your response, including interpretation or translation support. Please note that the inbox is monitored Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and we will respond to emails or voicemails within 5 working days.  

Please note that responses outside of the forms provided in this article (the above link and accessible formats provided on request) will not be accepted. 

Please note that you can respond both as an individual and on behalf of an organisation. To do so, you will need to complete the individual and organisational form. 

Consent  

By proceeding with this call for evidence I am confirming that I have read and understood the privacy notice about how my data will be used.  

5. Privacy notice: independent Leicester review call for evidence 

The following notice explains your rights and provides the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation when you engage with the Independent Leicester Review Call for Evidence. 

The data controller

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is acting as the Data Controller for the Independent Leicester Review Call for Evidence. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk. 

What personal data we are collecting and why

Your personal data is being collected as part of your response, if you are responding as an individual. Personal data might be disclosed in individual or organisational responses, where you chose to do so.  

The Review has been commissioned to establish what happened during the Leicester unrest in September 2022, the factors that contributed to it and what could be done to prevent these events happening in future.  

The following personal data and special category personal data may be collected for this purpose, where disclosed by you: 

• Name, address, contact details
• E-mail address(es)
• Personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs
• Personal data revealing race or ethnic origin
• Personal data relating to where you live (inside or outside of Leicester)
• Personal data relating to your age
• Personal data relating to your sex
• Personal data about anyone else, where you might disclose this

Lawful basis for processing the data

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 sets out when public authorities are lawfully allowed to process your data. The lawful basis that applies to the processing of public data during the Review is  

• Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller”.
• Chapter 2 Section 8(d) of the DPA “processing is necessary for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department”.

Where we may process “special category” personal data – e.g. sensitive data that reveals racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs – our lawful basis that applies to this processing is: 

• Article 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR: “the processing of special categories of data is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of UK law”.
• DPA 2018 Schedule 1 part 2 paragraph 6: “the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and its purpose is the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department”.

With whom we will be sharing the data

The data will be shared with the Review Panel, its supplier’s systems who are analysing the responses, and DLUHC.  Your personal data will not be shared outside of this group and it will be used for the purposes of the Review only.  

Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, erasure

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have rights that affect what happens to it. You have the right to:  

a. know that we are using your personal data – we have explained why and how in this notice, but if you have any questions on this please contact dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk

b. see what personal data we have recorded linked to your name/email address

c. ask to have your personal data corrected, and to ask how we check the information we hold is accurate

d. ask to have use of your personal data temporarily restricted, where e.g. this might be inaccurate

e. complain to the ICO (see below)

Sending data overseas

Your personal data will not be sent overseas. It will be kept on DLUHC and its supplier’s systems, which are based in the UK, for the duration of its processing.  

Automated decision making (without human involvement)

We will not use your data for any automated decision making. 

How your data will be stored and for how long we will keep your data

We use a third-party system, Citizen Space, to collect consultation responses. In the first instance your personal data will be stored on their secure UK-based server. Your personal data will be transferred to our secure government IT system as soon as possible, and it will be stored until March 2025 before it is deleted.

Complaints and more information

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation. 

If you are unhappy with the way the Department has acted, you can make a complaint. 

If you are not happy with how we are using your personal data, you should first contact dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk. 

If you are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can contact: 

The Information Commissioner's Office  
Wycliffe House  
Water Lane  
Wilmslow, Cheshire,  
SK9 5AF

 Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745
https://ico.org.uk/ 

6. Disclosure  

Please do not include any accusations or allegations of illegal activity against individuals, this is not a platform to report crime. Should you need to report a crime please do so through the appropriate channels. 

7. Are you happy to be contacted about your response? 

If you would like to be contacted about your response, or to provide further information, please send your name and contact email address to leicesterreview@levellingup.gov.uk.

8. About this consultation  

We recognise that themes in this call for evidence are sensitive and some questions relate to individuals’ personal experiences. Please be assured that we will treat your information in strict confidence, for the purpose of this call for evidence only, and ensure it is kept securely. Unless specifically requested, individual responses will not be published. Otherwise, response data will only be published at an anonymised and aggregate level. Use of case studies in any eventual reports published by the Independent Panel will be with the full consent of the individual.  

This consultation document and consultation process have been planned to adhere to the consultation principles issued by the Cabinet Office.  

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal data, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 2018, the UK General Data Protection Regulation, and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004). Personal identifiable information will be redacted in order to protect individual privacy.  

Please be aware that, as a public authority, the department is bound by the Freedom of Information Act and may therefore be obliged to disclose all or some of the information you provide. As such we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the department.  

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will process your personal data in accordance with the law. A full privacy notice is included below.  

Your opinions are valuable to us. Thank you for taking the time to read this document and respond.  

Are you satisfied that this consultation has followed the consultation principles? If not or you have any other observations about how we can improve the process please contact us via the complaints procedure.  

Geographical scope  

This call for evidence relates to events that took place in the city of Leicester, England, only.   

Body/bodies responsible for the consultation  

The Leicester Review Team in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).  

Duration  

4 weeks, from Tuesday 7 May to Tuesday 4 June 2024.  

Call for evidence questions - preview 

The main questions provided in the questionnaire are as follows: 

All respondents: 

If social cohesion is a state of communities living well together, how cohesive does Leicester feel to you?   

We want to hear your views on the nature and causes of these events. Were you part of, or a witness to, the unrest? Or were you made aware of the events by the media or people you know?   

What did you see or hear, and how would you describe these events? 

What impact has the unrest had on you, those around you and the wider community in Leicester?  

What do you think were the key factors contributing to the unrest?

What does Leicester do well in terms of social cohesion? 

What could be done differently in the future to strengthen social cohesion in the city?

For organisations only: 

Are you aware of other cities/local authorities have been successful in supporting positive community relations and addressing community tensions?