13 October 2000
Speaking at the launch of the final report of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, Straw said he welcomed the contribution and some of the criticisms. But he told the October 11 conference: 'This is not my report and while I welcome many of the recommendations, I strongly part company with the commission on some aspects, particularly their discussion on Britishness and the British identity.'
With wide-ranging recommendations and guidance for the public sector, the report calls on the government to set up an Equality Commission with a single equality act covering all grounds of unlawful discrimination.
The report was published by the Runnymede Trust and compiled by a commission of 23 peers, academics, writers and lawyers, many of whom act as advisers to the government. It sets out 130 recommendations to help 'build a pluralist human rights agenda'.
Commission chairman Professor Bhikhu Parekh said: 'Most other reports on race have been crisis-driven and narrow in their approach but ours is different. It is the first attempt by members of different communities to sit down together and work things through.'
As well as more stringent monitoring across the public sector, the commission wants to see an independent body established to deal with police complaints, and specialist training in race and diversity issues for all practitioners in the criminal justice system.
Recommendations for education include national targets for reducing the numbers of exclusions of pupils from particular community backgrounds and a working party to evaluate the racial equality and cultural diversity of recent initiatives and their impact on pupils.
In health, the commission wants high priority given to research into the impact of racism on health, and all NHS primary care trusts given access to a telephone interpreting service.
Targets should be set for co-ordinated inter-agency action to cut the numbers of young black and Asian men held in state institutions, the commission said.
PFoct2000
