3. Memorandum from the Audit Commission
The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog
responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically,
efficiently and effectively. We are active in local government,
health, housing, criminal justice and fire and rescue services
and consequently have objective evidence on the overall impact
of public services on users. In addition to making sure that taxpayers
receive value for money, our aim is to provide impartial information
on the quality of public services. We also act as a force for
improvement by providing practical recommendations and spreading
best practice. We are committed to working in partnership with
other regulators and to ensuring that our own activities also
represent value for the taxpayer.
Further details about the Commission can be
obtained from our website www.audit-commission.gov.uk
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The Audit Commission welcomes the Committee's
inquiry into the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD) observations on UK's 17th Report and the Government's response
to it. The Commission's main purpose is to act as a driving force
for improvement in public services, and we see race equality as
critical to delivering good-quality public services and quality
of life for everyone.
2. Black and minority ethnic groups experience
discrimination, and disadvantage in relation to access to employment,
and access to, and the delivery of public services in England
and Wales.
3. There is a paucity of information about
the needs, and expectations of gypsy and traveller communities
from our public services, which makes it difficult to assess and
address discrimination and disadvantage suffered by this community
group. Consequently, a starting point for tackling gypsy and traveller
disadvantage in public services is for our public bodies to develop
better engagement with this group, and we urge all public bodies
to do so. Indeed, a better appreciation of the needs of any user
group should be the starting point for determining resource priorities
and delivering improvements to services.
4. To address race equality effectively
is to have a positive impact on the quality of life of not only
black and minority ethnic communities, but all people. Race equality
is often approached as a separate or minority concern. To improve
performance, public services need to develop a sharper understanding
of race equality and a more robust integration of equality throughout
all aspects of their work.
5. The Audit Commission believes that the
specific Public Service Agreement target on reducing racial inequalities
announced in the 2004 of Spending Review, coupled with other measures
such as the proposal for a single equalities and human rights
commission; and initiatives to raise educational attainment, reduce
health inequalities and child poverty for example, could make
significant inroads into the discrimination and disadvantages
faced by black and minority ethnic groups in relation to public
services as referred to in paragraphs 23 and 24 of CERD's concluding
observations.
6. Critical to their success will be the
way in which the Government is able to build on the momentum created
by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to motivate and support
local and regional public bodies, such as schools, hospitals,
and regional housing or planning bodies, in their efforts to promote
race equality. In our view this is best achieved by setting a
clear national aspiration for equality, diversity and human rights
in general, encouraging local collaboration, experimentation and
learning; and by promoting effective regulation.
INTRODUCTION
7. This submission focuses on the issues
highlighted in paragraph 23 and 24 of CERD's concluding observations
on the UK's 17th report on the discrimination and disadvantage
suffered by Roma/Gypsies/Travellers and certain other minority
groups or individuals in the areas of employment, education, housing
and health. It draws on the findings of the Commission's national
research studies into equality and human rights;[1]
as well as our experiences from inspecting local public services,
to comment on CERD's observations on inequality in public services.
It also highlights factors critical to improving local public
bodies' performance on race equality; and suggests measures that
the Government should take to further promote race equality.
8. The Commission welcomes the Joint Committee's
inquiry into CERD's observations on the UK's 17th Report, and
in particular the aspect that relates to public services. We take
the view that responding to the needs of black and minority ethnic
(BME) communities will mean that services improve overall, and
therefore see this inquiry as a positive contribution to the drive
for public service improvement. We believe that this inquiry will
help to raise the profile of the needs of the of gypsy and traveller
communities in the UK. We are also of the view that it will help
to reinforce the notion of equality as a human rights issue.
COMMENTS ON
THE CERD'S
OBSERVATIONS WITH
RESPECT TO
RACE INEQUALITY
IN PUBLIC
SERVICES
9. Audit Commission research suggests that
people from black and minority ethnic communities continue to
experience inequality and discrimination in employment and in
the delivery of public services. They are more likely to be poor,
with lower incomes spread across larger household sizes. They
will experience the same problems as other people living in those
areas and their needs will not be very different. However, they
suffer from additional barriers, for example:
— direct and inadvertent racism;
— poor access to services and information,
or services that are delivered in an inappropriate way due to
a lack of understanding of the complexities of minority ethnic
groups; and
— language, cultural and religious
differences.
10. An Audit Commission review of national
data on outcomes experienced by people of black and minority ethnic
origin reveal evidence of inequality in relation to employment,
education, health, social services, policing and housing as follows:
— Employment: Overall, black and minority
ethnic people are more likely to be unemployed, irrespective of
their qualifications, place of residence, sex or age. They are
less likely to hold senior management positions.
— Education: Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi
pupils experience lower levels of educational attainment. Black
pupils are more likely to be excluded from school.
— Health: African Caribbean people
are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
— Social services: Adults and older
people from black and minority ethnic communities are less likely
to be provided with social services following an assessment. Only
33% of all social services users in England thought that matters
of race, culture and religion were noted by local authority social
services staff.
— Policing: Black people are eight
times and Asian people three times more likely to be stopped and
searched than white people. There is a strong perception among
young black and minority ethnic people that the police assume
that they are potential criminals. Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani
people are more likely to be victims of crime.
— Housing: Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi
households are more likely to live in homes that fall below the
Decent Homes Standard than white households.
11. The Audit Commission has not undertaken
a specific review of the issues facing gypsy and traveller communities
as regards public services. However, information from our inspection
work in local government suggests that the location and quality
of public encampment sites for traveller communities continues
to be an issue. For some district councils that we have visited,
balancing the rights of gypsy and traveller communities against
those of the wider community, particularly in relation to the
services they received and where they were sited was the biggest
human rights issue. There have been cases brought under the Human
Rights Act 1998 concerning accommodation issues and planning enforcement
action. Emerging findings from our inspections of housing related
support services for vulnerable people, funded through Supporting
People, suggest that gypsies and traveller communities are among
the three most excluded groups, and that few local authorities
have considered them in their future plans for these services.
12. The experiences of gypsy and traveller
communities will be similar to that of black and minority ethnic
communities cited in paragraph 10. However, there are specific
issues of discrimination and disadvantage that impact gypsy and
traveller communities which may often be heightened and distinct
because of the transient nature of their residence in a locality.
13. We reported in 1999, that the minority
groups that authorities report most difficulty in consulting are
those who are itinerant or who have no permanent home,[2]
this raises questions about how well the needs of travellers are
taken into account in local decision making. It is important that
public bodies develop better levels of engagement with gypsy and
traveller communities if they are to improve access to, and the
delivery of services. Such engagement will enable a more user
focused approach, and response to the needs of gypsies and travellers,
and have a positive impact on their quality of life.
IMPROVING RACE
EQUALITY IN
PUBLIC SERVICES
14. Action by local public bodies, like
councils, schools and NHS trusts, is vital to tackling the disadvantages
identified in CERD's concluding observations. Yet, Audit Commission
research into the implementation of the Race Relations (Amendment)
Act 2000 and the Human Rights Act 1998 indicate that their progress
is being hampered by a compliance approach which focuses on the
establishment of processes rather than the achievement of outcomes
for service users; and a failure to embed equalities and human
rights into the culture and core objectives of local public bodies.
15. We take the view that compliance with
legislation is a minimum requirement. To achieve substantive results
public bodies need to develop a better understanding of, and respond
more appropriately to, the needs of and expectations of all sections
of the community, including BME groups. It is vital that user/community
focus, coupled with a vision of equality which has at its heart
a desire to improve service outcomes and the quality of life of
all communities is integrated into the fabric of public services.
16. Improving race equality depends on successfully
managing a broad change agenda and having a sound appreciation
of change processes (ie knowing what needs to be changed and how
to achieve the changes). It can only be achieved by rethinking
the way that things are currently done. Audit Commission research
has identified seven factors critical to success, these are:
— Committed leadership—Visible,
consistent and committed leadership from officers, members and
non-executive directors is critical to getting started and sustaining
progress on race equality;
— Positive organisational culture—It
is often attitudes and behaviours that really inhibit progress,
key to tackling this is a clear rationale of why race equality
matters;
— Clarity about outcomes and priorities—This
helps to focus improvement efforts and promote accountability;
— Engaging with local BME communities—building
up the trust and confidence of black and minority ethnic communities
is an important first step towards race equality;
— Organisational capacity—Staff
need the right skills and knowledge to make race equality a reality,
yet awareness of BME cultures is often identified as an important
knowledge gap;
— Working with others—Successfully
tackling the starkest areas of race inequality, such as poor housing,
unemployment and poor health, requires a co-ordinated approach
across the public sector; and
— Managing Performance—Like any
other programme for improvement, performance in race equality
needs to be managed, public bodies should be measuring their progress
against their stated aims as part of internal performance management.
This is distinct from any form of external audit or inspection
and is essential for improvement.
THE ROLE
OF GOVERNMENT
AND NATIONAL
AGENCIES
17. To support improvement for local communities,
we have recommended that the Government build on the impetus for
improvement created by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000,
by establishing a national aspiration for race equality, effective
regulation and encouraging local collaboration, experimentation
and learning.
18. The national aspiration will help to
foster a shared national understanding of race equality outcomes;
and encourage local debate, while leaving room for local communities
to develop their own solutions. To succeed, it would need to be
underpinned by clear and consistent messages about the importance
of race equality to public service delivery, and all new government
guidance and initiatives should reflect importance of race equality.
It would also require a national framework for measuring UK wide
performance on race equality outcomes.
19. Regulators and inspectorates should
be encouraged to develop methodologies that measure all communities'
experiences of public services and move towards measuring public
service outcomes. They should challenge local visions for race
equality where they lack ambition or are marginal to the public
body's core objectives.
20. Government and other national agencies
can also play an important role in supporting local public bodies
by providing opportunities for peer learning and support and identifying
and supporting best practice through schemes like the beacon council
scheme.
21. Whilst the Government has not yet issued
its formal response to CERD's observations, over the last year
it has announced a number of initiatives which we believe have
the potential to advance race equality in England.
22. The Audit Commission has recognised
the proposal for a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights
(CEHR) as a step towards developing a mainstreamed and integrated
approach to equality, diversity and human rights. We believe that
the new CEHR as a source of expertise will provide an enormous
resource for the public sector. We also note the requirement in
the Housing Act 2004, for local authorities to assess accommodation
needs of gypsies and travellers in their area and to produce a
strategy detailing how their needs will be met.
23. The specific PSA target on reducing
racial inequalities and building community cohesion and the intention
to publish a Government-wide community cohesion and race equality
strategy announced in the 2004 Spending Review, could provide
the basis for the national aspiration for race equality that we
recommend.
24. In addition, a central objective of
the 2004 Spending Review was to build a fairer, more inclusive
society, ensuring opportunity and security for all, and as part
of this government has set itself a number of sector specific
targets such as reducing health inequalities that should have
a beneficial effect on race equality.
CONCLUSION
25. Delivering race equality is about improving
the quality of life of all sections of the community. Done effectively
it provides truly user focused and citizen responsive public services.
Achieving race equality, diversity and human rights is challenging,
yet achievable if local agencies take ownership and fully integrate
race equality into existing programmes and if national agencies
motivate and support progress by providing a clear national aspiration
for improvement and effective regulation which supports local
collaboration, experimentation and learning.
November 2004
1 The Journey to race equality: Delivering improved
services to local communities [2004]; Human Rights: Improving
service delivery [2003]; Directions in Diversity: Current opinion
and good practice [2002]; and Equality and Diversity; Learning
from Audit Inspection and Research [2002]. Back
2
Listen up! Effective Community Consultation [1999]. Back
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