Memorandum by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission
1. EQUALITY AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION
1.1 This written evidence contains information
about the current and planned work programme of the Equality and
Human Rights Commission (the Commission) on community cohesion,
good relations and integration.
1.2 The Commission was established on 1st
October 2007 under the Equality Act 2006. It champions equality
and human rights for all, works to eliminate discrimination, reduce
inequality, protect human rights and build good relations, and
ensure that everyone has a fair chance to participate in society.
1.3 The new Commission brings together the
work of the three previous equality commissions, the Commission
for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the
Equal Opportunities Commission. The Commission's remit now covers
race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or
belief and the application of human rights. Working across Britain,
the Commission has national offices in Manchester, London, Cardiff,
Glasgow and Edinburgh.
2. GOOD RELATIONS
AND COMMUNITY
COHESION
2.1 Within the Commission's core mandate
under the Equality Act 2006 is the duty to promote good relations
within and between different groups in society. The Commission
believes that community cohesion is not simply about race or religion.
Good relations are about breaking down barriers and ensuring that
people from different backgrounds get to know one another. As
such they are about every aspect of prejudice and intolerance
including disability hate crime, homophobia, and violence against
women, as well as racism and xenophobia. A recent campaign led
by Commissioner Baroness Jane Campbell has ensured that disabled
young people are fully involved in sporting events and is just
one example of our work on a broader definition of good relations.
2.2 In relation to migration, the Commission
believes that immigration over the last half-century has brought
great benefits to Britain. It has fuelled the engine of a more
dynamic, prosperous economy. Public services have benefitted from
the contributions that migrants have made to our welfare state
since 1945. Studies such as the Audit Commission's "Crossing
Borders" report (2007:10) have also shown that migrants are
less likely to use public services, increasing the benefits while
not adding to the burden on the country.
2.3 Rapid migration is also a fact of life
and a reality borne of globalisation. In today's global economy,
the rapid movement of capital is paralleled by the intense scale
and speed in the movement of people. Across the world, the United
Nations has calculated that more than 200 million people live
and work outside the country of their birth. It is not only the
volume but also the diversity of immigration into Britain that
is significant.
2.4 The underlying characteristics of migration
have changed. Modern communications mean that migrants need never
lose touch with their country of birth. The average length of
stay—which was over 20 years a generation ago—is also
falling dramatically, and circular migration is increasing as
migrants from the former accession countries in Eastern Europe
regularly commute from east to west.
2.5 Migration has great potential to create
and spread wealth. A recent report by the independent Ernst and
Young ITEM club, which uniquely uses the Treasury's own economic
model, suggests that without migration, UK growth in the next
decade would fall from a healthy 3% per annum to a far less robust
2.2%, with all that implies for reductions in public services
and employment.
2.6 Britain needs migration in order to
sustain growth and prosperity. The Commission believes that migration
has to be fairly and sensitively managed. There should be rules
governing employers so that the benefits of migration are equally
spread: for example, it is vital to enforce compliance with the
national minimum wage, ensuring that migrants are not exploited
as substitute labour to undercut the native population. Those
who suffer most from the pressures created by population growth
are often the poorest living in the most economically deprived
regions of the country. That is unfair, and also explains why
many ethnic minority communities are as concerned about the impact
of immigration on British society as the rest of society.
2.7 The evidence suggests that recent migrants
are often unevenly dispersed throughout the country especially
into areas that have not historically experienced significant
immigration. For example, only 10% of workers from the former
accession states in the EU reside in the greater London area.
Most economic migrants and refugees live in temporary, privately
rented accommodation, and their transience and mobility also pose
challenges for community cohesion.
2.8 Migration has to be accompanied by a
determined and effective programme of inclusion and integration.
The Commission will work with local partners and stakeholders
to offer practical approaches, building communities' own capacity
to become more cohesive and integrated in an age of rapid migration
and diversity.
3. COMMISSION
ON INTEGRATION
AND COHESION
FINAL REPORT
3.1 The Commission welcomes the final report
of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion (CIC) as a means
of assessing progress in cohesion practice since the Cantle Report
in 2001. A new definition of cohesion and integration is required
to reflect changing patterns of migration, and increasing complexity
at the local level.
3.2 The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
developed its own framework for integration based on three pillars:
— Equality—everyone must be treated
equally and has a right to fair outcomes.
— Participation—all groups in
society should have a stake in the democratic process, as well
as reciprocal obligations and responsibilities.
— Interaction—people's experiences
and opportunities should not be constrained by their identity
or personal characteristics.
3.3 These are being refined by the new Commission
in its work on measurement and analysis. It is necessary to identify
new opportunities for central and local government to improve
and extend their work in this area. We believe that cohesion has
to be understood and built in local communities. We welcome the
Department for Communities and Local Government's proposals to
develop a Cohesion Delivery Framework that provides further advice
to local authorities who are delivering cohesion, bringing together
existing guidance and best practice. We are therefore cautious
about the CIC's plans for a national body to manage the integration
of new migrants, and believe it would be preferable to encourage
a more strategic approach among existing central and local institutions,
including the major role that the Equality and Human Rights Commission
can play.
3.4 Integration is best delivered by local
institutions. New migrants are often likely to identify with their
local community, local council and local school in a meaningful
way. Guidance and promoting best practice examples by Government,
the Commission and local government umbrella organisations such
as the IDeA and the LGA are key.
3.5 We welcome the CIC's emphasis on a cohesion
policy that encourages civility and mutual respect in local communities,
as well as a commitment to tackling the root causes of economic
inequality and deprivation. This is vital given that deprivation
and poverty often increase competition over scarce public resources,
breeding resentment and mistrust among sections of the local population
that may provide the fuel for political extremism. Any initiative
to promote cohesion must recognise that this is a two-way process.
4. THE COMMISSION'S
STRATEGIC WORK
ON MIGRATION
4.1 Our strategic focus on narrowing gaps
in life-chances and outcomes for disadvantaged groups also includes
migrant communities. There is a strong link between barriers facing
particular communities, and the failure to build and sustain community
cohesion. For example, the gap between ethnic minority employment
and the overall rate is still 15% according to DWP, yet a recent
Labour Force survey suggested there are still a quarter of a million
ethnic minority women of working age who would like to work, but
do not currently have a job. This accounts for half the ethnic
minority employment gap, and remains a major obstacle to greater
cohesion and integration. The workplace is a key site of interaction
for people from different backgrounds and work is increasingly
seen as a key ingredient of full participation in society.
4.2 The Commission's specific activities
relating to community cohesion and integration in 2008-09 will
include:
5. REGIONAL ACTIVITIES
AND GRANTS
PROGRAMME
5.1 The Commission has a regional structure
that consists of nine regional teams gathering intelligence about
good relations including tension monitoring, and providing effective
mediation, advice and support in local areas. The regions are
working with the Commission centrally to develop an exemplary
grants programme that meets the needs of the Voluntary and Community
Sector at national, regional and local level, and helps to deliver
our good relations objectives. There is total grant funding of
more than £10 million available.
5.2 By strategically supporting good relations
projects locally, we hope to widen our reach and ability to identify
and tackle issues affecting good relations. We see the VCS as
having a key role to play in this area and have traditionally
worked closely with community groups to gather local intelligence
on the state of equality and community cohesion, and also to enable
these groups to represent their own interests. Through such local
relationships we have been able to provide a unique source of
data to help better inform the community tension reports that
are also routinely captured by Governments Offices and the ACPO
National Communities Tensions Team (NCTT).
5.3 This capacity has been particularly
valuable during periods of heightened community tension, when
our predecessor, the Commission for Racial Equality, generated
daily reports and worked behind the scenes to bring community
leaders and public authorities together to help prevent and resolve
disturbances. Regional staff have repeatedly worked with police,
local authorities and community leaders to dispel tensions following
terrorist incidents at home and abroad.
5.4 The regional teams also work proactively
to help prevent minor disturbances and individual incidents becoming
larger problems. These disturbances and incidents can often appear
random and unconnected, but often this is far from the case. In
many of the regions, for example, we work through Far Right Monitoring
Groups. Our West Midlands hub helped to set up one such group,
which was recognised in the former ODPM's Conflict Resolution
Toolkit as being a model of good practice. The work of this and
the other similar networks through which the regions operate includes
collecting and sharing information on the activities of far right
groups, working to dispel inaccurate myths created to damage good
relations and work to monitor and respond to hate crime, which
is very often linked to far right activity.
5.5 Gypsy and Traveller groups are often
particular victims of the false myths propagated by the far right.
The Commission's regional hubs have done much to promote and enforce
the interests of these communities. For example, the South East
of England team has engaged with national, regional and local
Gypsy and Traveller groups to increase awareness about the issues
faced by the Gypsy and Traveller community.
5.6 This includes working with local authorities
to ensure that they meet the needs of Gypsies and Travellers in
their race equality schemes and through monitoring equality impact
assessments, particularly in relation to site provision. The hub
has also organised meetings with councillors police and local
community groups to help foster cross community understanding
and better recognition of the needs of Gypsy and Traveller Groups.
5.7 This work is leading towards the establishment
of a regional network for Gypsy and Traveller groups and the voluntary
sector. The network will improve systems for the monitoring of
racist incidents, exclusions, decisions around accommodation and
sites, and impact assessments.
6. ENGAGING WITH
YOUNG PEOPLE
TO PROMOTE
GOOD RELATIONS
6.1 The first of these projects is a series
of summer camps that the Commission will be leading in 2008. The
summer camps programme is designed to building good relations
and "social capital". Participants will include young
people from all backgrounds and there will be a strong focus on
team-building and breaking down barriers.
6.2 The Commission will invite participants
from a range of social and economic backgrounds, ensuring broad
and diverse representation. Much emphasis is placed on disadvantaged
young people in this type of programme, but not much is done to
bring them into contact with young people from more privileged
backgrounds. This could be an area of innovation for the Commission
and a ground for testing and developing new policies on good relations
and community cohesion.
6.3 The Commission will also encourage young
people to take on leadership roles in their communities and nurture
this potential on an ongoing basis. The Commission will help participants
build on what they have learned so that they can take these new
skills and knowledge back to their communities.
7. SOCIAL HOUSING
ALLOCATION IN
ENGLAND
7.1 A recent review of social housing (Hills,
2007) suggested that social housing plays an important role in
community cohesion, providing living accommodation for about 4
million households in England. Many people are attracted to social
housing because of its potential benefits, but evidence suggests
that using social housing to achieve integration and inclusion
often leads to misunderstanding and mistrust.
7.2 There are perceptions in some communities
that immigrants have an "unfair advantage" in the allocation
of social housing and this may impede good relations between communities.
Recently, a study conducted by Sheffield City Council (The
Guardian, 2008) found that 5% of social housing allocation
goes to foreign nationals, including1% to EU nationals from the
2004 accession countries.
7.3 The Commission is undertaking a two
part study to improve understanding of the impact of social housing
allocations on good community relations, and to seek policy solutions
that will promote good relations. The first phase of the study
will seek to determine whether current "needs based"
allocations policies have the effect of giving unfair priority
to new immigrants. This will be completed by the end of March
2008.
7.4 The second phase—to be undertaken
in close collaboration with the Local Government Association and
with the support of the Economic & Social Research Council—will
address more fundamental questions such as the core principles
of current allocation policy, criteria used, eligibility standards,
and decision making processes. It will also consider what is the
rationale behind the needs based system, and how is the rationale
regarded by different sections of the population? The second phase
will be completed by the autumn of 2009.
8. RESEARCH ON
THE EXPERIENCE
OF NEWLY
ARRIVED MIGRANTS:
THE IMPLICATIONS
OF BEING
A MIGRANT
IN BRITAIN
8.1 Research evidence is becoming available
about the experiences of new economic migrants to Britain, including
from the expanded EU. We will be undertaking a review to collate
the evidence in order to understand the inequalities they experience.
Key issues are likely to include housing, income, social attitudes,
healthcare, and barriers to social participation. Any data about
the impact of new legislation, such as the introduction of the
new points system for immigration, will also be included. It will
take account of the experiences of short-term migrants who have
been in Britain for only a few months, and longer-term migrants
who are beginning to establish themselves in this country. We
expect the review to indicate which categories best identify groups
experiencing inequalities, including refugees and asylum-seekers.
The review should set out the available data on the numbers of
migrants within the selected categories. It will situate the available
evidence within the context of equality and human rights legislation,
principles and practice.
9. CROESO PROGRAMME
IN WALES
9.1 In Wales, the Commission has inherited
a good relations project from the Commission for Racial Equality:
Croeso ("Welcome" in Welsh) which is funded as a partnership
between the Commission and the Welsh Assembly Government. It seeks
to develop debate around issues of diversity in suitable forums
across Wales with a strong emphasis on young people. It works
across all equality mandates.
9.2 The Commission is currently seeking
a renewed three year funding arrangement with the Welsh Assembly
Government. Its priorities over the coming period are activities
to build improved relations between travelling and settled members
of local communities and peer-led education work with school councils
in secondary schools.
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