Select Committee on Work and Pensions Written Evidence


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





 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2005
Prepared 6 April 2005