Nottingham Castle draws line under race incident as curator files complaint

An independent investigation at Nottingham Castle Trust has found “almost entirely in favour” of freelance curator Panya Banjoko, who had complained about the organisation’s handling of an incident in which she says her grandchildren were assaulted and racially abused on castle grounds.

The investigation found that the trust’s fact-finding process was insufficiently done, witness statements were taken but not corroborated, a safeguarding report form was not completed and there was a general lack of awareness and training in safeguarding policy and procedure.

The investigation report said: “It appears the leadership were not well equipped or experienced enough to deal with customer incidents and take overall control.”

Although it said staff had been slow to call the police, the report noted that they did call the police and said their actions to put the children involved first had demonstrated that they were “sympathetic, compassionate and caring”.

The report advised that “lessons learned from this incident are translated into an appropriate action plan”.

The Nottingham Castle Trust Board said “significant lessons” had been learned from the incident. In a statement, which can be read in full below, the board apologised to the parties involved, saying: “We want to formally apologise to both families. It is clear the incident could have been handled in a way that they would have felt better supported, and staff felt more prepared, potentially creating a better outcome for all parties.

“We apologise to our team who faced this difficult situation without that specialist training and to both families who trusted that this had been completed before their visit to the castle.”  

The trust said a group has been formed and led by a regional expert “to identify and react to a range of EDI matters with a thorough listening and learning process underway”. It said the senior leadership team is working through each of the recommendations, and an interim anti-racism statement will be made ahead of a more detailed policy.

Banjoko, who abstained from the investigation because she says she lacked confidence in the trust to manage it fairly, has called on Nottingham City Council to conduct a formal investigation, saying the trust is currently failing to follow some of the recommendations set out in the independent investigation. She says the trust has attempted to close the matter without meeting with her, as recommended by the report.

Banjoko told Museums Journal that although she had been offered a meeting with the trust, she had been told that no trustee would be in attendance, which she said was “unacceptable given the circumstances”.

She added: “I declined to be involved in the investigation because I had no confidence in it being managed fairly by the trust but did provide a statement. My lack of confidence was borne out when they edited my statement and omitted parts of it from the report. Staff did assist but this was only after I insisted and this was captured on film. I believe if the trust is truly committed to diversity and inclusion then they would have met with me sooner and would make themselves available now but they have not.”

Banjoko also criticised the lack of representation of the African Caribbean community on the board of trustees.

In a further complaint to the Charity Commission asking it to investigate the trust's “institutional incompetence”, Banjoko said the incident had caused “great harm to my mental health and wellbeing and that of my family”.

Asked to respond to these allegations, a spokeswoman for the trust said: “The trust has completed its investigation and is satisfied that positive improvements have and are continuing to be made. We are now focused on making the castle a great place to visit for as many people as possible from a wide range of backgrounds.”

Statement on behalf of the Nottingham Castle Trust Board

We can now report that the independent investigation in response to the complaint made by Ms Banjoko has concluded and can finally be responded to in detail. Ms Banjoko was the first to be presented with the full report by email on 5 February 2022 but has not yet responded to the conclusions. We recognise that she is under no obligation to do so and that the recommendations are for us to continue to action.

We have been in conversation with Ms Banjoko about attending a meeting to discuss the report and to find a way forward but have been unable to confirm a date. We have faced pressure to release the findings earlier than we would have liked but hope that today’s statement makes the conclusions and the positive action that has already been taken clear.

To clarify, this report followed a separate police investigation into an allegation of racism against one of the two families involved. None of the castle staff were involved in, nor witnessed, this incident, and the police closed their enquiry due to lack of evidence and due to this being a safeguarding incident. This matter therefore formed no part of the trust’s report.

Before touching on the conclusions made and the learnings that are being actioned, we want to formally apologise to both families. It is clear the incident could have been handled in a way that they would have felt better supported, and staff felt more prepared, potentially creating a better outcome for all parties.

We apologise to our team who faced this difficult situation without that specialist training and to both families who trusted that this had been completed before their visit to the castle.

There are a range of findings and recommendations that we accept and are now part of a clear action plan.

To clarify that this independent report had an overarching objective of fully answering the letter of complaint and to specifically investigate whether Nottingham Castle Trust’s Complaints and Safeguarding Policy and Procedure was followed. It is also important to add that Ms Banjoko was invited to take part in the investigation and that she declined due to her stated lack of confidence in the board. This was not recorded in the report itself as Ms Banjoko did not speak to investigators but will be formally recorded in board meeting notes on 23 February.

In summary, the report did not find that staff failed to assist the complainant and her family, police were correctly called, and staff did their best to take care of all children involved and did act positively in numerous ways.

There are significant lessons that have been learned. The safeguarding policy was not observed in full and processes to determine the seriousness of the incident were not followed, and this is not acceptable.

In order to consider how we might improve our procedures, a group has already been formed and led by a regional expert to identify and react to a range of EDI matters with a thorough listening and learning process underway. Alongside this, the senior leadership team is now working through each of the recommendations. An interim anti-racism statement is being presented to the internal EDI Group for endorsement, prior to the group working together on a more detailed policy.

The trust’s senior leadership team is well on track to addressing the report’s conclusions, prioritising support to the team that is at the heart of the castle’s success and implementing ways to better represent and include the wider Nottingham community in everything the castle offers.