The principles relating to our non-political status are set out in the British Council’s Charter. The British Council is a non-political organisation.
British Council sites covering controversial subjects may offer links to external sites which, taken together, represent a reasonable range of views about the subject. The overall impact of this range of views must be consistent with the purpose and values of the British Council. We must ensure that, when we link to third-party sites, we take into account any concerns about potential breaches of the law, e.g. defamation or incitement to racial hatred.
Special care needs to be taken during election or referendum campaigns when the British Council’s obligation to be non-political may be under scrutiny.
Advice concerning elections can be obtained from Director Communications.
At the time of an election, the British Council will not offer message boards specifically for debate about the election. All message boards must be closely moderated to ensure that any incidental discussions relating to the election could not be construed as the British Council hosting a debate which may be interpreted as promoting the interests or views of any one political party at the expense of another.
We will at no time organise any online polling or voting or expression of opinion about party political issues which could be translated into anything that could be construed either as an accurate representation of public opinion as a whole or as the British Council’s opinion about the value any political party’s proposition.
Any online polling or vote about a political or controversial public policy issue must be referred to Director Communications for agreement.
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