The government has published a new Inclusive Britain strategy, which sets out actions to tackle racial disparities, boost opportunity and promote fairness.
Inclusive Britain was developed in response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ independent report which made 24 recommendations to tackle ethnic disparities.
Chair of the Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities, Tony Sewell, commented: “When the Commission began its work in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, we set out to examine the evidence and root causes for the disparities faced particularly by ethnic minorities and offer solutions to the Government to address them. The Government’s response, Inclusive Britain, does just that.
“This is a major step towards a fairer, more open and more inclusive society and, importantly, focuses on the practical actions that will improve people’s lives. We all should throw our weight behind this strategy so we can build a better society for all.”
The Inclusive Britain Action Plan sets out 70 practical actions to tackle the negative disparities that persist in society under three key themes identified by the commission – Building Trust, Promoting Fairness, and Creating Agency – as well as several measures that are reported to go beyond the Commission’s recommendations.
These include:
- The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will publish guidance to employers on voluntary ethnicity pay reporting in summer 2022. This guidance, which will include case studies of those companies who are already reporting, will give employers the tools to understand and tackle pay gaps within their organisations and build trust with employees.
- To close the gap in pay between different ethnic groups working within NHS England, the government will commission a new Ethnicity Pay Gap research project. The project will consider the scale and causes of the ethnicity pay gap across the NHS and produce actionable recommendations on how to reduce it.
- Reforming public sector training on diversity and inclusion to ensure it is more evidence-based, impartial and inclusive;
- The government will develop refreshed guidance on Civil Service diversity and inclusion, with clear advice on impartiality in language and practice.
- Working with a new panel of academics and business people to promote fairness in the workplace;
- Working with industry to collect data on ethnicity of business owners applying for finance, plus a new HSBC scheme to support more ethnic minorities to become entrepreneurs;
- Setting out our plan for boosting literacy and numeracy standards for the most disadvantaged pupils in the forthcoming schools white paper;
More information about the Inclusive Britain strategy is available on the UK Government website.
