Memorandum submitted by Colleges in the
Black Country
My name is Palo Murti and I currently work for
Colleges in the Black Country representing the South Black Country
District. My current post is Minority Ethnic Outreach Worker (MEO),
which is a two-year funded contract with Jobcentre Plus.
My role is to provide an outreach service to
support Ethnic Minorities, to engage and have access to mainstream
Jobcentre Plus provision; this would be done by registering them
onto the Local Labour Market System (LMS). Our performance is
measured by outcomes and we have set targets to meet, which have
been agreed with the Jobcentre Plus Regional Office.
I have to work closely with Jobcentre Plus staff
and have named contacts at each jobcentre particularly for the
MEO referrals.
Many of the issues that I would have liked to
raise have already been identified and included in your Committee
inquiry list. However, it would of great interest to me as to
what progress has been made to help eliminate such issues, future
plans to strengthen and build on race relation problems. I also
would welcome a detailed proposal together with any conclusions.
I am including some of the issues that I have
faced day to day during my work; some of the issues raised have
been feedback to me by some of the clients I have interviewed.
1. Lack of information given to BME individuals.
As part of our job, we have to make individuals aware of the provision
available to them. I feel the advisers need to offer a more detailed
service to individuals notifying them of their options, but most
of the time very little is mentioned and I feel that the clients
aren't been fully made aware of what could be available to them.
2. Individuals were often passed on from
pillar to post, which is very frustrating for an individual who
is visiting the jobcentre for the first time, and this would almost
paint a negative picture of the jobcentre. Reason as to why could
be a breakdown in communication within the organisation, lack
of regular meetings giving the awareness of new opportunities
and new developments, multi-skilling staff to learn about other
people's jobs.
3. I visited a jobcentre in the South Black-Country
and no staff are of Ethnic Origin, I therefore refer to a statement
made in the press notice "to promote equality of opportunity
and good relation between persons of different racial groups".
I cannot understand how this can possibly be achieved.
4. Feedback from ethnic minorities of reasons
why they are not claiming benefit is a feeling of unwelcomeness
at the jobcentre and the fact they feel they are treated differently
than the average person who is ready and available for work. I
quote "Attitude of staff says it all". These comments
were especially made from the Black communities
5. I feel that the majority of Jobcentre
Plus contracts are target driven and individual needs are not
taken into consideration. A lot of the provision is supposed to
be client led but the jobcentre's view is to sustain job outcomes.
6. Having worked with many Jobcentre Plus
contracts over the past seven years, one of the major things that
have been frustrating is how the provider and the jobcentre operate
to two different contracts, and two different sets of rulings.
I feel this is unfair and that if a successful partnership is
to be achieved then we should all be reading from the same bible.
7. A lot of cast issues amongst ethnic minorities
themselves, I have experienced harsh feelings against religion
beliefs, and so this would not be beneficial if the staff and
customer had theses issues, which often enough does happen.
8. One of the main target areas I work in
is Lye in the West Midlands, densely populated with people from
the Muslim community and houses a lot of refugees and asylum seekers.
Main problem identified there is no jobcentre based in Lye, yet
the only jobcentre for that area is based in Stourbridge, which
is a pre-dominantly white area and a huge barrier is created for
people from Lye entering into Stourbridge jobcentre. What can
be done?
I know that my views may come across very strong,
but these are based on real live situations and experiences. I
am glad that I have had the opportunity to raise my opinions and
to be involved with an inquiry that could help to improve and
to benefit the standards of service delivery to people from the
black and minority ethnic communities.
Mrs Palo Murti
MEO Development Officer
30 April 2003
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