Our Submission to the House of Commons call for evidence on Race & Ethnic Disparities
The government has called for evidence on ethnic disparities and inequality in the UK, this is a joint submission between us and Bristol’s Commission on Race Equality (CoRE). The current pandemic is picking apart the dreadful inequality in our society, inequalities that have existed for centuries and despite innumerable initiatives and campaigns to address, persist to this day at a deeply structural level. Ethnic minorities account for around 14 percent of the UK population (ONS, 2011) and while all British ethnic minority groups have made progress in employment, occupational mix, labour force participation, and education relative to the white majority, ethnic minorities still do less well than most white people in most socioeconomic areas (McKinsey, 2020). It is now well researched that Covid-19 has disproportionately affected ethnic minorities in the UK. Ethnic minorities are younger than average, accounting for 20 percent of those aged 24 or under; by 2051, they could account for one in five of the population.
Bristol City Council has acknowledged that institutional racism is a legitimate issue that affects outcomes for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic colleagues. This manifests in many ways, including a mean ethnicity pay gap of 12.06% and a median pay gap of 17.56% due to the lack of senior officer roles occupied by these colleagues, and a higher likelihood of having a formal grievance lodged against them compared to White colleagues. The report has found that positive action needs to be taken in our high-level strategies and is particularly needed within recruitment and selection practice.
It is not novel to assert that there are ethnic disparities in educational attainment at school, in employment, in risk factors and outcomes for different health conditions, and within the criminal justice system but to understand why such disparities exist, and what works and what does not, we have provided our responses to the Commission’s ten questions around education, health, crime and policing, and employment and enterprise.
Framing race equality should be driven by BAME experiences, voices and perspectives to ensure that advocacy messages not only reflect but also respond to the real needs of the community in order to recognise inequalities. As we enter the post-pandemic recovery phase and identify opportunities to re-build our economy in a more equitable way, our main focus should be the building of wealth among BAME entrepreneurs and the fight for equitable opportunities in the labour market for BAME workers. Priorities should include, but not be limited to, removing barriers to accessing finance and investment, equipping BAME youth with in-demand skills. We believe that these can be achieved through the realisation of two over-arching outcomes:
Equity-focused Policymaking – the specific experiences of BAME communities should be reflected in all decision-making processes
Community Wealth Creation – strategies should be implemented that support and encourage community wealth building to produce more sustainable equitable growth whilst alleviating systemic poverty.
By unlocking the full potential of BAME businesses and advocate for racial employment equity, we can support job creation and build community resilience as well as sustainability. The strength of this effort benefits the broader economy. Policies which follow these areas of focus will help to create an environment where BAME business can flourish thereby increasing BAME individual/communities incomes. As a key social determinant of health, creating an equitable environment in business is key to healthy economic growth (in every sense of the word). Inclusive enterprise will increase opportunities for BAME leaders, leaders who are adding equitable value for all which will ensure racial equity and justice is embedded in the system and not reliant on a token leader. Harnessing the potential of socially useful technology and investing in community finance to support education in, for example, entrepreneurship may allow for a more diverse and inclusive leadership cohort and create the conditions for many more BAME entrepreneurs and innovators to flourish.
The community wealth building (CWB) model of economic development is emerging in our cities and communities offering real, on-the-ground solutions to localities and regions battered by successive waves of extraction, disinvestment, displacement, and disempowerment.
The social economy, civil society and community wealth are the key to fair employment and equitable growth. Communities and the social economy have always been a stabilising force in times of social change and its role in addressing the impacts of the current health crisis must be recognised when reimagining our future. The policy landscape has shifted, forcing us to reflect not only into the stark inequalities the virus has brought to the fore, but into the opportunities it presents for reimagining alternatives to how we (re)organise society in the aftermath. We need innovative and dynamic concepts that bring together strategic economic intelligence, market access support, enterprise skills development, social leadership, and targeted investment to stimulate inclusive economic growth in enterprise and employment to address economic inequality. We believe this can be done through a:
Commitment to a proportionate long-term response and our early involvement in designing solutions. All sectors and public institutions need to acknowledge the unprecedented socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on the economic status of BAME communities and build in short, medium and longer-term proportionate policy and investment proposals, given that the impact of coronavirus has widened and deepened existing patterns of racial inequality. Economic interventions and solutions should be designed with the earliest engagement and dialogue with BAME voices, to bring their broad and close understanding of being at the sharpest end of COVID-19 to what can work at a practical level to remove barriers and revive economic activity.
Targeted Support for BAME-led Organisations and Businesses by investing in a targeted programme of support across all BAME sectors that provides advice and support in applying for financial assistance from the available schemes and regular and up-to-date information as the situation changes.
Funding & Investment to contributing to economic recovery by creating an inclusive matrix of support, including grants, wage subsidy and micro-loans, for those small BAME-led charities and voluntary organisations, start-ups and new businesses that fall out of the current eligibility criteria and definitions for public sector loans and social investment.
Focus on the local economy by broadening the understanding of how local economies really work beyond the limited lens of the Business Rate System by including all sectors including: home workers, night time economy, responses to local transport needs and the retail sector - to provide a realistic 3D picture of local businesses and economic activity so that support mechanisms can be in place to foster sector diversity, good practice in sustainability, and inter-dependence in the process of economic recovery.