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Social Inclusion

My Lords, I too thank my noble friend Lady Morgan for initiating this debate and for her very full introduction. I begin by asking the Minister this: are we reaching the people who the many initiatives are designed to reach to make inclusion a reality? In my contribution I will concentrate on education because I see it as the main plank of upward mobility and inclusion. I shall not rehearse the initiatives that have been taken by the Government—I am sure other noble Lords will do so—but, as far as I can gather, although the initiatives have been based on research findings they do not appear to have so far resulted in any substantial increments in dealing with the society Britain has become over the past 50 years. Black boys are still excluded from schools in uncomfortable numbers; ethnic minorities are over-represented in the prison population; some young men bomb the country that has given them succour; and riots take place up and down the country far too frequently. Britain has tried to absorb many groups from many cultures but I fear that the initiatives taken to make inclusion a reality appear to come from researchers who are ethno-centric in their findings. Such research needs to make our society at least harmonious. My observation is that the research itself never appears to take on board the basic fact that all legitimate cultures have a history of lifestyles that have been developed within those cultures over many centuries, and that that defines the society or cultural group. The UK needs really to understand the norms within the different societies in order to address them as a whole. Why is it that some young Englishmen set upon and put an axe into the head of a young black man and killed him while he was going about his own business? These men are easily labelled as racist but my question is: is this enough? Why are they doing it? The DfES statistics and research on ethnic minority pupils’ attainment showed how badly such pupils were doing in the school system. The focus was on ethnic minority children living in Britain; no mention was made of the cultures or the environments from which they came. There was a complete lack of information on the most basic differences—for example, in regard to child-rearing procedures—in all of the different communities. There is no norm in Britain today. It is self-deluding to make decisions about inclusion without first taking an in-depth view of the differences as they exist today. Who teaches whom? Who teaches what? What does our society mean by ““recreation””? How do different groups have a good time? What sort of protection lies within cultures? There are many more questions. Are we as a nation deluding ourselves by trying to impose western culture—through schools, Churches and other sources—without giving ourselves space for assessment and possible merging? In March 2002, Mike Baker, an American, reported that British teachers went to Jamaica to learn how Jamaican teachers taught at school. Other studies suggest that Pakistan and India were also chosen for such visits. The idea was that the British teachers would have a better understanding of the culture from which some of their school populations emerged. Instead, they returned full of criticism of what they described as the Victorian attitudes of the teachers. No question was ever asked whether this was the best way for children of Caribbean or Asian descent to learn. Instead, teachers were imported from South Africa, Australia, France and other European countries—people who have no understanding of the different cultures and who, as a result, fail black children daily in the schools. The DfES has a duty under the Race Relations Act 2001 to assess and consult on the likely impact of proposed policies on the promotion of race equality and to publish the results. The CRE expresses disappointment that the partial registration impact assessments undertaken do not take account of race equality issues. How can we move forward when laws are ignored? When will we have a definition of ““Britishness”” for the 21st century? How can we at least come to a decision about shared values that will enable social inclusion and take steps to build a British nation that values its many cultures in a meaningful way?