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FOCUS GROUPS WITH MINORITY ETHNIC COMMUNITIES

CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSIONS, PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON RESEARCH

6.1 The main aim of this research with minority ethnic communities was to identify important issues of relevance to the day to day needs and circumstances of minority ethnic people and to inform the proposed 'new survey' of minority ethnic communities in Scotland. This concluding chapter is divided into three parts: first, we provide a summary of the key issues and cross-cutting themes which emerged from this research and analysis; second, we present a summary of the solutions to these issues as proposed by the participants themselves; and finally, we offer a series of recommendations drawn from the research findings about future research and action.

Summary of Key Issues

6.2 The focus groups with minority ethnic communities raised a number of important issues in the day to day lives of community members. A significant proportion of these were issues which will exist for all community members including the White majority, for example, waiting lists for hospital and GP appointments, choices at school and lack of transport links. There were however a series of issues and priorities which are particular to the experiences of minority ethnic communities. To recap from Chapter 4, these are summarised below.

Health

6.3 Health was the most often prioritised topic by focus groups. The main health related issues affecting people from minority ethnic communities can be broken down into the following areas; translation and interpretation services, the cultural appropriateness of care, working in the sector and the overall quality of health services.

6.4 From the discussions, the main issues affecting minority ethnic people are not necessarily the quality of health care, although there are concerns over waiting times and levels of service, but concerns over access to healthcare when a language barrier exists. This is seen to impact on access to services and the service itself. The inability to communicate effectively clearly impacts on the way people feel about the service they have received. Other issues which emerged were the cultural appropriateness of services, for example in relation to diet and nudity and the perceived discrimination in the health sector for the employment and promotion of minority ethnic people.

Employment

6.5 Employment and education were considered by many participants to be inter-linked, and many of the issues overlap. The main issue that emerged in discussions about employment was discrimination and racism in the labour market in accessing jobs and promotion within jobs.

6.6 Overall, gaining employment was considered one of the highest priorities in people's lives. The inability to gain employment was considered to lead to the high levels of self-employment amongst minority ethnic groups but also to problems associated with unemployment such as loss of confidence, stress and social isolation. This lack of confidence was seen to result in many people from minority ethnic groups thinking that they need to gain more and more qualifications often becoming 'over-qualified'.

6.7 Particular issues were raised for people holding overseas qualification, work experience and references and the lack of value placed on these experiences.

Education and Lifelong Learning

6.8 There were a wide range of issues highlighted under the topic of education and lifelong learning. Whilst many of these were general issues, others such as cultural sensitivity, racially-motivated bullying and educating the majority population were specific to people from minority ethnic groups.

6.9 Access to lifelong learning was also considered important but difficult for people with language barriers.

Justice and the Law

6.10 Issues on Justice and the law focused on the police and their reactions and responses to racist incidents. Evidence of racist incidents and crimes were shared by participants, especially traders. Concern was voiced over the reaction and procedures of police to racist incidents, in particular, their lack of response. Participants felt that racist incidents were not seen as a priority and that assumptions and stereotypes were still made about people from minority ethnic groups and crime or drugs.

Being Part of a Community

6.11 A great deal of importance was placed on being part of a community but interpretations of 'community' differed, especially across generations. Whilst most young people identified with the majority population and felt integrated, older participants were keen to be part of their distinct ethnic communities.

6.12 There was a strong sense, especially by some younger people, that people from minority ethnic groups were made to feel 'different'. The most strongly expressed feelings of difference were expressed by Gypsy/Traveller participants who felt excluded from the main community and considered this isolation as stemming from a failure to understand Gypsies/Travellers as a distinct group.

Public Services: Housing, Social Work and Transport

6.13 A perception was held by some participants that minority ethnic groups are allocated council housing in the most deprived areas and are subject to clustering. There was also a fear of increased vulnerability to racist attacks and incidents in council house areas. Similar to other topics, accessing information on housing and related issues was considered a problem, especially for older people.

6.14 Some specific housing issues were raised by Gypsies/Travellers in relation to sites which were considered inadequate, often unsafe and too expensive. There was also concern over the restrictions imposed on sites.

6.15 The main social work issue was access to sheltered housing and the cultural barrier associated with sending a family member into residential accommodation. The principal transport issue was lack of adequate transport provision especially for older people.

Business Support

6.16 Business people in the survey highlighted the difficulties in accessing finance and support for ethnic businesses and especially for small businesses. Finance and support institutions were considered protectionist and unhelpful.

Social networks and organisations

6.17 The biggest concern for groups, especially older people and women, is the decline of family and informal support networks. This has implications for the care of children and the elderly. Young people also commented on the need for more organisations for their age groups.

Poverty

6.18 The main issue in relation to poverty is lack of information and knowledge of benefits and entitlements.

Additional Issues

6.19 The main other issues put forward by participants as additional priority topics were access to services, lack of representation, access to childcare, pensions and planning for old age and the media representation of minority ethnic groups and their countries of origin.

6.20 The most significant difference geographically is the low priority of employment in Edinburgh and the issue of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Glasgow. There is little difference between the different minority ethnic groups with the exception of Gypsies/Travellers who have very specific issues.

Themes

6.21 The research with minority ethnic communities has produced a rich wealth of information on priorities and issues in their daily lives. Whilst some of these mirror priorities important to all communities, there are some significant issues particular to ethnic groups. Whilst the key issues have highlighted specific issues within each topic, there are a number of over-arching themes which relate to the whole research. These are:

• Racism and discrimination;
• Issues of culture and identity; and,
• Access to and appropriateness and responsiveness of services.

Solutions to Key issues- suggestions from the respondents

6.22 Research participants offered a range of realistic and thoughtful solutions to issues which were discussed in the focus groups in response to some of the issues which were raised. These are reported fully in Chapter 4, but in summary, there are a series of over-arching suggestions, as suggested by participants, which can be identified across a number of areas. These can be summarised as solutions relating to:

• Interpretation and translation services
• Culturally appropriate services
• Better sign-posting and information
• Changing mainstream services
• Educating the majority
• Educating minorities
• Being responsive to small traders
• Better media representation

Interpretation and Translation Services

6.23 The need for trained and skilled interpreters dominated many of the discussions with regards to access and barriers to services. A significant number of people in different communities do not either speak, read or write English fluently. These tend to be more commonly from older age groups. Improved interpretation services was seen as essential to improving access to services, especially health services. Recommendations included the following:

• Wider advertisement of interpreting services for individuals but also for health workers;
• Produce guidelines on interpreting, for example, making clear that it is not acceptable for young children to interpret for parents, or for other patients, visitors or doctors to interpret;
• Train interpreters to translate medical information;
• A quick response unit of interpreters for emergencies;
• Develop a central telephone interpreting and conferencing service for key services.

Culturally appropriate services

6.24 A key issue for different groups was the cultural appropriateness of services and the lack of awareness and knowledge of cultural differences by service providers and employers and in education. This was seen to lead to ignorance, discrimination and poor service provision. These issues were particularly highlighted for health, education and employment. Recommendations included:

• Educating service providers and their staff about cultural and religious differences, for example, dietary requirements, dress codes, religious occasions, prayer, appropriate behaviour and nudity. This was considered essential for health care staff and important in schools, education and to a lesser extent the workplace;
• Developing a general school curriculum which reflects cultural diversity and provides multi-faith religious education as part of the school curriculum, or, alternatively having no religious education, including Christian in schools at all;
• Gypsies/Travellers made specific recommendations for schools being more culturally sensitive and making attempts to accommodate Gypsy/Traveller children, for example, by offering a 4 day week or half days and allowing children to work alongside their parents;
• Gypsies/Travellers also made specific requests with regards to housing and sites, for example, increased consultation on sites to ensure sites are better located, affordable, accessible and safe.

Better sign-posting and information provision

6.25 Access to information and knowledge was seen to impact on access to services such as health, education, employment, public services and support networks. Recommendations included:

• Increased availability of information in different languages especially in relation to benefits and entitlements;
• Increased use of minority ethnic media and press to advertise initiatives, benefits and projects, for example Asian newspapers, radio and TV stations.

Changing mainstream services

6.26 Dissatisfaction with mainstream services was an issue in a number of areas such as health and justice. A number of recommendations were made in relation to improving access to mainstream services for minority ethnic communities:

• Recognise institutional racism by mainstream services and make adjustments to understand and meet the needs of people from minority ethnic communities.
• The most important service which could be offered by mainstream services is language support;
• Education of staff in mainstream services about cultural differences and the encouragement of staff to work with different ethnic groups.
• The police should be transparent about when an incident is being dealt with as a racist incident and when it is not and what difference this will make to procedures.
• Police feedback to communities to develop a better dialogue with communities, especially with businesses.

Educating the majority

6.27 As highlighted in discussions about culturally sensitive services, there is a perceived need to educate the majority on minority ethnic populations. In addition to the above:

• Employers should be provided with information on overseas qualifications, work experience and references;
• Employers should be helped to employ people from overseas, for example, providing information and help to get a work permit;
• Educating services and employers on race relations legislation and requirements.

Educating the minorities

6.28 Interestingly, a number of participants highlighted the need to educate minority ethnic groups as much as majority groups. This was particularly in relation to procedures and services with regard to justice and employment but also to develop the confidence of minority ethnic groups.

• Increase awareness and provide information on police procedures, especially for traders;
• Awareness raising, education and support amongst the minority ethnic communities to build confidence of people from minority ethnic groups. Send a clear message that " it is OK to integrate";
• The value of ethnic monitoring forms in employment and education and any other services should be clearly explained. These forms are often still considered racist and as a barrier.

Being responsive to small traders

6.29 There were a number of issues specific to small businesses and the challenges they face such as access to finance and support. Recommendations to address these issues were:

• An examination should be made of access to finance and funding for minority ethnic traders and the attitude of banks, building societies and other financial institutions to this group;
• An examination of benefits and support available for small traders in retail;
• Collaborative work should be developed between minority ethnic traders, the police and local council to protect businesses from racist crimes.

Better media representation

6.30 The representation in the media of different minority ethnic groups was considered negative. To address this, and in addition to education of the majority population, the following was suggested:

• The development of a national advertising campaign in the style of the HEBS anti-smoking adverts or Scottish Executive domestic abuse campaign to highlight people to the issue of racism and discrimination.

Issues Common to Previous Research

6.31 The issues raised and solutions suggested by the participants in the research reflect findings from previous research and studies including those from the studies within this research programme. More generally, the participants have highlighted issues which have now been recognised nationally and which are beginning to be addressed by changes in legislation and policy. The prioritisation of access to public services and their appropriateness and responsiveness is a key area which is beginning to be addressed by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 whilst issues around Justice and the law and in particular within the police service are also now a priority in the UK as a result of the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry.

6.32 At the Scottish level, the work of REAF and the Executive has recognised these issues and priorities for minority ethnic communities and is beginning to address some areas. This study and the associated research programme is itself in response to the demand for more reliable and robust information and data on minority ethnic groups. Work is also underway to:

• address issues relating to the translation and interpreting service (Scottish Executive, 2001c)
• collect information regarding the relationship between minority ethnic groups and crime (Clark and Leven, 2002; Scottish Executive, 2001g)
• increase understanding of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (Scottish Executive, 2000c, ongoing Asylum Seeker research and work by SRIF.)
• increase understanding of Gypsies/Travellers (Scottish Executive, 2001b)
• improve health services for minority ethnic communities (Gardee, 2001)
• increase understanding of the experiences of older people from minority ethnic groups (Bowes and Dar, 2000; Bowes and MacDonald, 2000)
• highlight issues of racism and discrimination in Scotland through an anti-racist campaign which aims to increase the majority population's awareness of minority ethnic issues and help challenge and change racist attitudes in Scotland. (Launch of ("One Scotland. Many Cultures") planned October 2002).

6.33 What is not yet clear however, is the overall extent to which the recommendations of recent research, reports and legislation documents have been turned into action and the extent to which this action is being disseminated back to minority ethnic communities.

Recommendations for research

6.34 The aim of this survey is to provide recommendations based on the findings from research with people from minority ethnic groups on a proposed 'new survey' of minority ethnic groups and associated research programme. In this final section, therefore, we concentrate on recommendations for survey research and also offer some further comments on the way ahead and future action.

Research Surveys

6.35 Given the findings from the focus groups with people from minority ethnic communities and taking into account previous studies such as System 3 (2001), Netto et al. (2001) and Reid-Howie (2000), Blake Stevenson make the following recommendations with regards to surveying minority ethnic communities in Scotland.

• We would not recommend a large scale 'new survey' of minority ethnic groups as has been scoped by System 3. Whilst such a survey would provide useful baseline data, there will be significant challenges in reaching all groups especially those who are not visible and hard to reach. We agree with the findings of the workshop (Reid-Howie, 2000) that if a large-scale questionnaire survey is commissioned it should await the results of the 2001 Census before being devised as recommended. Attention should also be given to any gaps in existing large-scale mainstream surveys such as the Census and Scottish Household Survey which should be addressed separately.
• Overall, any survey or research approach will obviously be influenced and determined by the aims and objectives of that research. Decisions about methods therefore should be taken on a case by case basis depending on the aim of the research, the nature of the issues being researched, and the target group whose views and experiences are being researched. This points to the need for a flexible research programme. We would therefore recommend a combination of surveys to inform the research programme and policy decision making which is in line with current thinking within the Scottish Executive. The balance of methods and survey types will be informed once research and policy priorities have been decided by the Executive. This will have the advantage of offering a range of methods to ensure the inclusion of as many groups including those who are hard to reach or who would be excluded for logistical reasons from a large-scale survey as proposed by System 3 (2001), e.g. White minorities, refugees and Island communities.
• To further illuminate the range of interests within minority ethnic communities we agree that representative but smaller scale quantitative surveys of specialist groups should be conducted.
• We would also recommend the use of more qualitative methods such as face to face in-depth individual interviews and focus groups. Participants in this study expressed a preference for such approaches. In addition, qualitative methods are more appropriate for exploring the complexity of the issues raised by the participants.
• Given the confusion by research participants about who this research has been commissioned by, we recommend for any future survey commissioned regardless of method, that clear guidance is given to participants about who has commissioned the research and for what purpose.
• A dissemination strategy should be devised to feedback research findings and associated actions to those who participated in the research.

The Way Ahead

6.36 In addition to the information collated on the proposed new survey, this research study has provided a wealth of information and data on minority ethnic groups, issues which are important to them and a series of suggested solutions and recommendations for action as proposed by people from minority ethnic groups themselves. This is significant added value and can be used to inform the future progress of the research and development programme by the Scottish Executive.

6.37 A complaint throughout the research process waged against the Scottish Executive and other agencies by the participants and assisting organisations is the perceived lack of action. Although the Executive has embarked on a series of actions, it is obvious that more is still to be done. It is our recommendation therefore, that the Scottish Executive gives attention to actual issues raised by participants in the survey and their proposed solutions. We recommend that this information is used and informs the next phase of the research programme but more importantly that it informs and is used to develop immediate and creative action to produce outcomes and solutions in response to those needs highlighted by minority ethnic communities in Scotland.

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