It is now coming up to seven years since the government recognised Cornish Minority Status. The press release from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government states

In 2014, the UK recognised formally the unique identity of the Cornish, affording them the same status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) as the UK’s other Celtic people, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.

All very good in theory but is anyone really taking any notice of this on the other side of the Tamar?

In reality what was recognition of FCNM for? The Cornish? Many Cornish people already knew that the Duchy was unique and did not care whether the government accepted this or not as it would not have changed their view in the slightest. Or was the FCNM for the rest of the UK? In which case it does not quite appear to be working.

It seems that most representations of Cornwall through public bodies, media and tourism lump Cornwall in as part of southwest England with no representation of the Duchy’s unique identity.

Over the next few weeks I will be contacting some organisations to find out how they approach Cornwall’s identity and whether they know about the FCNM.

So let’s start with Visit England.

For the intrepid visitor planning their first foray into Cornwall there are two primary sites for information Visit Cornwall (more about later) and Visit England.

Visit England/Visit Britain are the national tourism agency, a public body funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, it is the primary site for planning a holiday for both domestic and foreign visitors.

Reading about Cornwall through the Visit England site there are a lot of references to county and England and plenty of references to beaches, hotels and the countryside but nothing about the Cornish people or our culture or history which seems strange for a public body funded by the government, the same government who have recognised the Cornish as a national minority and have accepted the Cornish have a right to express, preserve, share and develop their distinct culture and identity.

With this in mind I telephoned the Visit England press office to ask about this oversight.

KC “ I have a couple of questions and hope you could give me some information”

VE ” Of course that’s what we are here for go ahead”

KC ” Thanks.. It just a couple of quick questions.. Many Cornish regard the Duchy as being distinct from England does Visit England draw any attention to this? Also the Cornish were recognised as a national minority in 2014 what does Visit England do to highlight this to visitors? “

VE ( Long pause)” Um.. Can I take some contact details and I ‘ll get some to information to you”

KC ” Thanks that would be most helpful”

Then I waited and waited and then waited some more before a second call to Visit England press office and a promise that they were looking into my request and would send the information very soon.

Two days later an email from Visit England:

Apologies for the delay in getting in touch, thank you for getting in touch.

Unfortunately we wouldn’t hold data on this to provide insights.

We work closely with the destination office for Cornwall and would direct consumers to their information sites for further detail.

I have been stonewalled in the past but this was a whole new level. So another call to the Visit England press office.

KC ” I was hoping you may be able to give me some assistance on a follow up question?”

VE ” Of course go ahead”

KC ” I spoke to someone about a week ago about Visit England’s approach to Cornish Minority Status, particularly the lack of information about the Cornish on the Visit England site, I was told I would be given information but the email I have received this morning claims you have no data to provide insights “

VE” Ermm….I would not be able to help you with this as I do not have the information “

KC” I can understand you don’t have any data as there is nothing on your site about Cornish status.. But why could nobody just say that? “

VE” Well as I said I can’t really help with this at the moment but I would suggest you get in touch with Visit Cornwall who may be able to help or you could send an email with your question and we may be able to provide some more insight”

KC” Thanks for your help anyway. “

There seemed little point in contacting Visit Cornwall as nearly nine years ago on a warm summers evening in July of 2012 my writing partner at the time on KernowCalling and I had met with Malcolm Bell head of Visit Cornwall in a pub in Truro for a discussion about how Visit Cornwall advertised the Duchy, this meeting and further discussions over a couple more weeks led to Visit Cornwall dropping references to county and England on it’s site and placing more information on the Cornish language and Celtic identity,we were even allowed to write a paragraph on the about section on the Visit Cornwall site.

Visit England seem unable or unwilling to help so the next logical contact would seem to be the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, part of their remit is the promotion of Cornish language and culture but unfortunately when I telephoned this morning not everyone had got quite up to speed on this, the lady I spoke to on the general enquiry line though trying to be helpful had never heard of Cornish minority status and was unable to find a department who could help with my enquiry and could only suggest sending an email to the Ministry. So I followed her advice and sent an email to the Ministry and also to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and to all of our Cornish MPs asking for their view on the way Visit England promotes the Duchy.

I will be coming back to this as I get replies and updates.