WHAT THE ORGANISATION DOES

THE Jewish Leadership Council was set up in 2003 as a forum for the heads of major Jewish organisations.

Its main role is to take a strategic overview of communal services and intervene where it believes there are gaps.

It has three divisions — Partnerships for Jewish Schools (Pajes), which grew out of a JLC commission on education, is involved in curriculum planning and teacher training.

Lead, JLC’s leadership training division, has tried to encourage more young people and women into positions of communal responsibility.

Reshet is a network for informal educators and youth workers.

The JLC has invested in the campaign against BDS and funds a community chest supporting initiatives such as the Moishe House for young people. It is currently reviewing social care provision in the community.

More recently, it has set up an external affairs department which includes a team of four regional workers in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham to develop contacts among local politicians and agencies.

The JLC now operates a budget of £2.5 million, more than twice that of the Board of Deputies.

A plan to unify the council and the Board was floated in 2013 but it has lain dormant for the last couple of years.

The JLC’s membership council, consisting of representatives from 30 community organisations along with the heads of Pajes, Lead and the chairman of the JLC, meets quarterly.

But policy is set mainly by an inner circle of 12 trustees.

In addition, the organisation has 17 advisory vice-presidents, recruited from the ranks of the Jewish great and the good.

The newest vicepresident, Sir Howard Bernstein, the former chief executive of Manchester City Council, was appointed last week. SIMON ROCKER