23 September 2005
Hazel Blears has emerged as Home Secretary Charles Clarke's choice to chair the commission set up to investigate the way that Muslim and other faith communities integrate into British society.
Blears, the minister of state for policing, security and community safety, has not yet been named as the chair of the new Commission on Integration, launched by Clarke on September 21. But Home Office sources said she was likely to be confirmed following a brief consultation period on the new body's remit.
The commission is one of the government's key responses to the London bombings in July and to the threat of extremism. But it will also undertake a wider analysis of community cohesion across the UK.
Clarke said it had been established as a multi-faith 'advisory body which will work to overcome barriers to integration', and will report in July 2006 on the potential for improving policies. Home Office sources said it it was likely it would complement, rather than replace, the work of the department's existing Community Cohesion Unit.
Clarke this week wrote to faith leaders across the UK inviting views on the terms of reference and membership of the CoI.
His letter also outlines the issues on which the commission will report, including: 'How to engender an increased sense of Britishness that is inclusive of all communities' and 'how to… tackle inequalities that can trap people into segregated lives'.
However, the CoI has only been granted advisory powers, after Clarke dismissed calls for the establishment of an executive body.
Clarke's announcement came the day before Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, was expected to deliver a hard-hitting speech on the failure of past integration policies. At a private seminar in Manchester, Phillips was expected to say Britain is 'sleepwalking its way into segregation'.
'We have allowed tolerance of diversity to harden into the effective isolation of communities in which some people think separate values ought to apply,' a leaked copy of Phillips' speech reads.
PFsep2005
