< Previous | Contents | Next >

Race Equality Advisory Forum

Social Inclusion action plan

The consequences of social exclusion

Few issues are as poorly served by official statistics as the barriers experienced by Britain's minority ethnic communities. It is only in the last 3 - 5 years that anything more than a small core of official statistics have been available disaggregated by ethnicity. There is, however, drawing on information from both Scotland and the UK as a whole, an emerging consensus on the following :

• People from minority ethnic communities are more likely to be unemployed, with wide variations even among ethnic groups, with, for example, Bangladeshis suffering a rate of unemployment more than 4 times that of white people;
• Similarly, the rate of employment among people from minority ethnic communities generally is much lower than among white people. This is particularly an issue among Asian women, among whom, in some cases, only around one third are in employment, compared to nearly 80% in the case of white women;
• Although data is not particularly reliable, it is now recognised that people from minority ethnic communities have generally lower incomes than white people, and are more likely to suffer income-related deprivation. Allied to this is the view now accepted by the UK Government and others that people from minority ethnic communities are much more likely to live in poor quality housing, in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and particularly in areas with high rates of crime;
• Again, although data is incomplete, people from minority ethnic communities face a range of additional health issues, both in terms of the likelihood of becoming ill, but also in terms of this being exacerbated by differential access to health services.

There is also a "hidden" strand of exclusion (at least in terms of most areas of public policy) for sub groups within minority ethnic communities who suffer, in effect, multiple discrimination. Obvious examples of this are women and disabled people.

Current approaches to social inclusion

Social inclusion is the process of addressing the problems caused by social exclusion. Since 1997, the UK Government has put in place a number of initiatives to achieve this, although it is recognised that this will be a long process, taking 10 or more years to address problems which have come about over many generations.

The main initiatives which the UK Government and, since devolution, the Scottish Executive have put in place are:

• The development of a consultation paper on Social Exclusion in Scotland. This generated over 200 responses. A summary of the responses is available on the Scottish Executive web site.
• In June 1998, the Scottish Social Inclusion Network was formed, bringing together representatives of a range of organisations with an interest in this area, including local government, health care providers and housing poviders, and individuals with personal experience of tackling social exclusion, including community representatives.
• In early 1999, the Scottish Executive published a strategy for social inclusion, "Opening The Door To A Better Scotland".
• In November 1999, this strategy was further developed with the publication of a document entitled "Social Justice, A Scotland Where Everyone Matters", which set out 29 milestones proposed by the Scottish Executive as indicators of progress in tackling social exclusion. These milestones relate to children, young people, families, older people and communities.
• In Summer 2000, two Social Justice Action Notes were published, reflecting some of the progress which has been made, and developing outline action plans for work in the short and medium terms. The fourth Action Note will discuss ways in which equalities can be mainstreamed into social justice initiatives.
• The Social Inclusion Partnership programme was established in 1999 in recognition of two basic facts about social exclusion: that it is complex and that its causes are interrelated. There are 48 Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs), 21 of which followed a refocusing of the existing Priority Partnership Areas (PPAs) and Regeneration Programmes (RPs). 34 SIPs are geographically based and 14 are thematic. Of the 14 thematic SIPs, 2 have been specifically established to provide support to people from minority ethnic communities experiencing social exclusion (in Fife and Glasgow).

The specific needs of people from minority ethnic communities and race equality generally have not been particularly prominent in any of these documents or initiatives, with the exception of the 2 thematic SIPs referred to above. For example, only one of the milestones in the Social Justice report relates directly to race equality. There are general commitments to promote social inclusion for minority ethnic communities, but relatively little by way of specific objectives or actions. At a local level, initiatives such as non-thematic SIPs have not necessarily addressed the needs of minority ethnic groups. For example, the adoption of strict geographic definitions of eligibility does not take account of the fact that members of minority ethnic communities experiencing exclusion may not be concentrated in small areas, and the predominant use of the poverty model does not take account of the range of ways in which people can experience exclusion.

Actions

To ensure that work on social inclusion meets the needs of minority ethnic communities, addresses institutional racism and promotes race equality, it is proposed that actions should be taken across a range of areas:

a) Leadership and strategic direction

1 This action plan to be adopted by the Scottish Executive with specific responsibility for its delivery to be given to a designated Departmental Minister and a named senior official with a specific remit for race equality;

2 The Scottish Social Inclusion Network to advise the Minister on the implementation of this action plan;

3 The Scottish Social Inclusion Network to develop a strategy with specific objectives and milestones for work to address social inclusion in relation to minority ethnic communities in Scotland similar to those set out in both the national strategy and the Social Justice paper;

4 The Scottish Executive to ensure an implementation plan is developed and resources made available for this strategy;

b) Research

1 The Scottish Executive to develop a research and information framework for social inclusion in consultation with minority ethnic communities;

2 The Scottish Executive to commission research to develop a clear understanding of the concept of social exclusion in the context of race, incorporating, but not being restricted to, the poverty model, taking account of issues such as institutional racism, illegal discrimination and the failure of providers to offer services which are both accessible to, and meet the needs and preferences of, minority ethnic communities;

3 The Scottish Executive to commission research to identify effective work being undertaken throughout Scotland to address social exclusion, both specifically with minority ethnic communities and more generally;

4 The Scottish Executive, as part of its commitment to the improved collection of disaggregated data on Scotland's minority ethnic communities, to ensure that all relevant statistics are ethnically disaggregated; this disaggregation to be built into ongoing processes such as the collection of neighbourhood statistics;

c) Partnerships, networks and the promotion of good practice

1 The Scottish Executive to ensure that race equality is mainstreamed into the work of the Scottish Social Inclusion Network;

2 The Scottish Executive to take the lead in organising a conference at which the target audience will be policy makers and those engaged in regeneration work with a view to helping develop a better understanding of the specific needs of people from minority ethnic communities;

3 The Scottish Executive to develop a network of those involved in social inclusion work with minority ethnic communities to help the process of sharing good practice. Links should be made with any similar groups which exist in England and Wales;

4 The Scottish Executive and local authorities to develop local plans to inform people from minority ethnic communities, in a range of appropriate ways, about the work which is being done in relation to social inclusion and how they can participate in this. In the longer term, these plans should address the development of sustainable partnership working and the capacity building necessary to support this;

5 SIPs to ensure that the promotion of race equality is mainstreamed into their programme planning, resource allocation and budgetary processes;

d) Monitoring and auditing of provision

1 Within the Social Justice Annual Report, the Scottish Executive to report on the extent to which the needs of minority ethnic communities have been addressed by work in the area of social inclusion;

2 SIPs to complete a race equality audit of their policies and programmes and to report on this to the Scottish Executive with a forward work programme to respond to gaps and develop more effective race equality strategies;

3 This requirement to be included in the specification of future local partnership arrangements;

4 SIPs to report on their allocation of resources, including financial resources, to the promotion of race equality; this to be done as part of their annual reporting process.

< Previous | Contents | Next >