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Community Relations

Along with all other noble Lords who have spoken in the debate, I too am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner of Margravine, for initiating it. In her remarks the noble Baroness said that this is something of a minority interest. It is a shame if we view it in that way. This is an issue we must all address and collectively we should be interested in it because it is important. As my noble friend Lord Parekh said and the noble Lord, Lord Chan, made clear, this has been a matter for public debate over many decades and is not something from which we can turn away; we need actively to engage in it. I am also grateful to the noble Baroness for providing me with an opportunity to set out some of the steps the Government are taking to address the apparent segregation of some communities and better enhance community relations generally. Comments by the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, Mr Trevor Phillips, suggesting that we are ““sleepwalking to segregation”” have raised the profile of the debate on segregation. I share with my noble friend Lord Parekh an interest in the academic studies undertaken in this field. It is worth noting that prominent academics on segregation in the UK such as Ceri Peach, Danny Dorling and Ludi Simpson have presented evidence that ethnic segregation is, at most, stable for some minority ethnic groups and declining for others. It is also worth noting that according to our own 2005 Home Office Citizens’ Survey, which is a nationally representative and more robust measure, some 80 per cent of people definitely agreed or tended to agree that their local area was a place where people from different backgrounds got on well together. That figure has not changed by much over time. Nevertheless, the Government are aware that segregation is an issue that it would only be prudent to guard against. We have put in place a series of programmes in the housing, education and employment sectors to prevent this. It is important to establish at the outset that we have a common understanding of what we mean by segregation. I feel that it is best described as the tendency for demographic groups to be concentrated in their distribution across neighbourhoods, schools and occupations. It is also important to note that the issue is complex with potentially many subtle social, economic and geographic factors at play. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, that segregation can have positive as well as negative impacts on social processes. The concentration of minority groups through residential segregation can allow groups to maintain a certain social cohesion. We should welcome and celebrate that in certain circumstances because they develop shared values and social networks. The debate on segregation is complicated by the limitations of available research, including a lack of focus on the effects of migration. Other factors include the conflation of population growth and population distribution; changes over time in ethnicity classification and ward boundaries; a lack of consensus about the suitability of different measures of concentration; and the fact that residential concentration provides only a limited explanation for any lack of integration. Research in the UK is fairly limited and based largely on a comparison of 1991 and 2001 census data, which consider changing patterns in the location of different racial groups. Recently claims have been made that ethnic segregation in the UK is increasing between certain ethnic groups, yet research also exists which counters that assertion. As a result, it is safe to say that there is no real consensus of opinion on how ethnic segregation in the UK has changed over time. Analysis by Dorling and Rees based on the 2001 census demonstrates that white polarisation increased from 3 per cent in 1991 to 4 per cent in 2001. In contrast, the degree of spatial polarisation of all ethnic minority groups has either fallen or stayed the same for Bangladeshis and other Asian groups. More recently published research using the 1991 and 2001 census by Professor Ludi Simpson at Manchester University, mentioned by my noble friend Lord Parekh, provides evidence that residential segregation is not increasing in England and Wales. That research, based on 8,850 electoral wards, including major cities in England and Wales, suggests that the migration patterns of white and other ethnic groups are very similar and are influenced by factors such as social mobility. This undermines the argument about the ““white flight”” from inner cities. Simpson also stressed that the increase in the relatively younger minority ethnic population results from demography; that is, differences in birth rates rather than migration. In short, the available data do not provide strong evidence of ““white flight”” occurring on a large scale, although there is some evidence of increased segregation—specifically, white people moving out of inner city areas—largely seen by academics as consistent with the broader trend of counter-urbanisation and an aging population. In Britain, the prominent social geographers I have referred to, but also including Deborah Phillips, Ron Johnson and Tony Champion, have independently concluded that there are no ghettos in British cities based on 1991 census data. The ““ghettos”” reference is made to the extent to which, first, a single ethnic or racial group forms the whole population of the residential district; and, secondly, most members of that ethnic group are found in such areas. Academic Michael Poulsen, from Macquarie University in Australia, recently presented a paper based on the two most recent censuses, quoting material for 16 cities in the UK, which suggested that despite most ethnic groups mixing with the white population, some Asian enclaves existed which were growing in both size and isolation. Comparisons between the 1991 and 2001 censuses by other academics, such as Ceri Peach at Oxford University, suggest that across the country as a whole segregation is actually declining as people from minority ethnic backgrounds become wealthier and move out of inner city areas. Although there are individual wards where the minority population, particularly those from Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds, is especially concentrated, these are the exception. According to Peach, for the Afro-Caribbean population in London segregation has actually decreased in every census since 1961. Professor Simpson’s study last year examined Bradford’s population and concluded that segregation did not increase in the decade between 1991 and 2001. However, Simpson recognises that segregation in Bradford is high and points out that this is unchanged. As the south Asian population has grown, inevitably it has taken not only some housing previously occupied by white groups in areas where the south Asian population has traditionally settled, but also some in new areas which have become mixed as a consequence. For all ethnic minority groups identified by the census, the indices of segregation fell between 1991 and 2001, according to Dorling in an article in the Observer of 25 September this year. He claims that these indices actually fell fastest for black and ““other Asian”” people. Furthermore, although in absolute numerical terms increases in minority ethnic populations have been greatest in areas where minorities were already concentrated, this is consistent with a pattern of natural growth and continued immigration to join established family members. Lupton and Power in their study concluded that the white population is becoming less isolated from minority ethnic groups as these groups spread and grow in a larger number of areas. But, at the same time, in certain inner urban neighbourhoods minority ethnic groups are becoming more isolated as their numbers grow and white populations dwindle. Research from the University of Bristol indicates that some schools are more segregated than their neighbourhoods. However, it is worth noting that academics such as Danny Dorling at the University of Leeds argue that this has been measured at one point in time, hence it does not represent a trend towards spatial racial segregation. According to recent research conducted by the CRE/YouGov, for 95 per cent of white Britons, most or all of their friends are also white. One needs to set against that the Home Office citizenship survey which indicated that in 2003 a third of all white respondents—that is 33 per cent—claimed that they had friends from non-white ethnic groups. Two-thirds of Asian and Chinese and over four-fifths of black people claimed they had friends from different ethnic groups to their own ethnicity. According to that survey, people were most likely to regularly meet and talk with people of different ethnic origin to themselves at local shops (45 per cent), in the work environment (40 per cent) and at restaurants, pubs, cinemas and community centres (38 per cent). Twenty per cent of the white group claimed that they did not regularly meet or speak with people of a different ethnic origin to themselves compared to 5 per cent of the Asian group and 5 per cent of the Chinese group. Only 2 per cent of the black group did not regularly meet or speak with people of a different origin to themselves, the lowest out of all ethnic groups. Almost two-thirds of Asian and black people regularly meet and speak with people of different ethnic origin to themselves at local shops. In addition, 36 per cent of the black group claimed that they regularly met and talked with people of different ethnic origin to themselves at places of worship—five times greater than the percentage of white people. Interestingly, although 23 per cent of white people regularly met or spoke with people of a different ethnic origin to them in their neighbourhood, the proportion of minority ethnic people to meet or speak with people of a different ethnic origin to them in their neighbourhood was twice as high. These data suggest that a large percentage of people from different ethnic groups have the opportunity to meet and speak with each other through a range of channels. However, meeting people from different ethnic groups in the neighbourhood and at local shops was relatively more common for minority ethnic people than for white people. That underlines the importance of localities bringing together people from different backgrounds. In summary, there is evidence of ethnic minority concentration which varies regionally across the UK. However, the extent to which this is segregation is open to debate. Data from the 2003 citizenship survey, to which I referred earlier, support the view that minority ethnic and white people are not ethnically segregated. Let me turn to some of the preventive steps the Government are taking with regard to forms of segregation and self-segregation. On housing, one of the practical measures we have taken to prevent communities becoming more segregated is our choice-based lettings scheme, which we believe takes a more sophisticated approach to tackling perceptions that some areas are ““white”” or ““black”” than setting quotas. This gives people a choice of social housing but, crucially, in many cases has provided people with practical support in moving into areas which they may not traditionally have seen as being for them. Housing management can contribute much to reducing segregation and fostering community cohesion through the delivery of core housing management services, including the provision of new housing opportunities through allocation and lettings, community participation, involvement and development, tenancy support and management and a better developed and more culturally sensitive and appropriate service delivery mechanism. Education is a sphere in which it is extremely important to achieve well-balanced intakes. We endorse the use of banding in the schools White Paper as it tends to produce genuinely comprehensive school populations. Building on the good work which already takes place in many areas, the White Paper also sets out our plans to further develop networking and collaboration among schools, such as between schools with very different ethnic populations and religious influences. The schools White Paper also aims to ensure that choice is more widely available to all, not just for those who can pay for it. This will be supported by extending rights to free transport for children from poorer families to go to the three nearest secondary schools within six miles of their home. That will extend the choice of school for the poorest in our society. We also aim to introduce better information for all parents when their children enter primary and secondary school. Dedicated choice advisers will help the least well-off parents to exercise their discretion. Local authorities will have a new duty to promote choice and diversity in access to school places and transport. There are a number of other initiatives, not associated with admission policies, which contribute to greater social cohesion. These include citizenship education in secondary schools as part of the national curriculum to teach pupils about the diversity of national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the UK, and the need for mutual respect, tolerance and understanding. It provides a context within which schools may discuss sensitive issues as and when they arise, in a way appropriate to the age and understanding of their pupils.   I was going to talk about the importance of workplace and community relations, but the Division Bell is ringing. If I can sum up very briefly, we may be able to take our place in the Lobbies. We have invested greatly in affirmative approaches in terms of discouraging what can be a corrosive form of segregation while recognising the strength that exists within coherent and cohesive communities that bring ethnic groups together. On balance, I agree with the approach of my noble friend Lord Parekh that we have to develop a sense of shared Britishness. I agree also with the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, in her desire to see integration rather than assimilation. Britishness is a diverse concept and we should celebrate it. We should work towards creating a shared sense of cultural norms and behaviour, particularly in relation to different faiths, cultural identities and different races. There lies the path for us in terms of a rational, sensible and sensitive approach to diversity within our society.