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Modern, fair and effective public services are not possible if significant sections of the population perceive them as discriminatory. To better understand why some people perceive certain public services to be discriminatory, CLG commissioned ETHNOS to conduct a detailed qualitative study of key drivers of perceptions of racial discrimination in eight public services: council housing departments and housing associations, local schools, local doctors’ surgeries, the police service, the prison service, the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the probation service.

The research combined two qualitative methods: semi-structured face-to-face individual interviews and vignettes representing scenarios specifically designed to be ambiguous about whether or not they depicted situations in which racial discrimination was displayed. One hundred and twenty (120) people from Asian and black backgrounds in England and Wales were interviewed.

The study identified that perceptions of racial discrimination were linked to various psychosocial factors - people’s self-concept, view of the world, understanding of racial discrimination, sensitivity to racial discrimination, and the sources and types of knowledge on which they base their perceptions – as well as to a wide range of factors specific to individual public services.

The report led to a range of recommendations that pertain to: greater involvement and consultation of minority ethnic communities; greater diversity of the workforce; greater professionalism amongst service providers and access to diversity and equality training; improvements in customer service; greater transparency of decision-making; better communications and explanations about procedure and decisions; systematic monitoring and evaluation of public services and evidence of progress; and greater accountability, access to complaints procedures, possibility of redress and tougher sanctions against racial discrimination.

"The research ETHNOS conducted on Black and Asian people's reasons for perceiving key public services to be either fair or discriminatory is an excellent example of the value of robust qualitative research for policy purposes. It has been used by directors across public services to help them attain their PSA 2 target. We have also used it internally as an example of best practice in qualitative research
for training purposes across the department."

Stella Yarrow

COMMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

What is Britishness? Citizenship and belonging

What values and loyalties, if any, must be shared by communities and individuals in all parts of Britain? How should differences between communities be handled? How can we balance the need to treat people equally, the need to treat people differently, and the need to maintain shared values and social cohesion? To help answer these questions, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) commissioned ETHNOS to carry out research on the meaning of Britishness.

The research involved conducting focus group discussions, word association tasks and sentence completion tasks with British people of majority and minority ethnic backgrounds living in England, Scotland and Wales.

The study found that people broadly shared a common representation of Britishness articulated around eight dimensions: geography, national symbols, people, values and attitudes,
cultural habits and behaviours, citizenship, language, and various notable achievements.

While most people agreed on their definition of Britishness, not everybody personally identified with Britishness. All British passport holders knew that they are British citizens, but not everyone attached any emotional significance to being British. In Scotland and Wales, white British and ethnic minority people identified more strongly with each respective country than with Britain. In England, white English people perceived themselves as English first and as British second, and most people from ethnic minority backgrounds perceived themselves as British, but none identified as English, a label they associated exclusively with white people.
People from ethnic minority backgrounds also drew on other sources of identification: religion, ethnicity and race or colour. These various identities became more or less salient in different situations. While these additional identities were seen as compatible with Britishness by people from minority ethnic backgrounds, white British people often saw them as mutually exclusive.

COMMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

The Decline of Britishness

The original study on Britishness had shown that most British people shared a common understanding of Britishness, although not everyone personally identified with this notion. The second report discussed why so many white British people strongly felt that Britishness was in
decline. They attributed the decline to three main causes: the arrival of large numbers of migrants, the perceived unfair claims made by ethnic minority people on the welfare state, and the perceived failure to manage immigrants properly due to what respondents saw as “political
correctness”.

The perceived demise of Britishness was experienced with distress by some white British people. They felt victimised and frustrated, and many anticipated that social unrest would become inevitable. Much of this frustration and feeling of victimisation was targeted at Muslim people, who were collectively seen to represent the antithesis of the values and attitudes associated with Britishness. Not surprisingly, British Muslim respondents also felt victimised and frustrated. They resented being asked to display their “loyalty” to Britishness and to choose between their Muslim and British identities.

Research participants also differed significantly in their understanding of “integration”. Many white British people equated integration with assimilation. As they witnessed that complete assimilation had not taken place, they argued that multiculturalism had failed. For ethnic minority communities and for some white British people, integration was about participating fully in British society while keeping certain dimensions of ethnic minority cultures alive. Those who shared this understanding of integration were satisfied with multiculturalism, although some remained uneasy about Muslims.

The study shows that the main barrier to integration is not so much self-segregation on the part of ethnic minority communities, but the subtle and everyday “policing” of the boundaries of Britishness by many white British people and their demand for complete assimilation.

LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST

Young people and disengagement: Young people in the Sikh community

As part of its local Community Cohesion Strategy (2008-2011), the London Borough of Waltham Forest is seeking to promote community cohesion
and to tackle extremism within allits local communities. They commissioned ETHNOS to:

• identify whether young Sikhs perceive their borough to be cohesive and what are the drivers for their perceptions
• determine whether low perceived cohesion could lead to support for extremist ideologies
• identify key organisations to leverage to access the local Sikh community
• recommend strategies to addresses any grievances identified

ETHNOS carried out:

• a rapid review on Sikhism and the Sikh community in Britain
• eight interviews with key statutory, community and faith stakeholders in Waltham Forest
• six focus groups with young Sikh and other residents in Waltham Forest
• observations at community events and in local Sikh organisations

The report provides a demographic, economic and social-psychological profile of the Sikh community in Waltham Forest. It reports on how Sikh identity is lived by young people and on the resources which are mobilised to establish and defend a Sikh identity. The report shows that there is very little support at all for extremist ideologies among Sikhs in Waltham Forest. However, it also identifies three factors that undermine community cohesion:

• perceived injustice against Sikhs in the aftermath of 9/11 and 7/7 and concern that resources are “unfairly” diverted towards the Muslim
community
• experiences of direct discrimination
• the local penetration of the international neo-Khalistani movement

ETHNOS makes a number of recommendations to build the council’s capacity to engage with young Sikhs, via both religious and secular (community and statutory) organisations.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Evaluation of the REACH National Role Model Programme

REACH is a project, led jointly by the Black community and Government, designed to raise the aspirations and achievements of Black boys and young Black men against a background of educational under-achievement, low employment and over-representation in the Criminal Justice System. REACH was designed by a team of 25 experts drawn from a variety of fields, including the voluntary and community sector, education, local authorities, academia and law enforcement. These experts recommended, among other initiatives, the introduction of a structured national role model programme for Black boys and young Black men, to offset negative media portrayals of Black boys and young Black men and help drive up aspirations and achievements.

ETHNOS was commissioned by Communities and Local Government to evaluate the REACH National Role Model Programme. The evaluation aimed to identify:

• how the programme has been implemented
• what have been the experiences of the main programme stakeholders
• whether role modelling works, in what ways and with whom
• what are the success factors and what can be improved

A very comprehensive evaluation protocol was devised to ensure that the perspectives of all stakeholders – e.g. members of the REACH working group, central government staff, programme managers, role models, young Black people involved in the selection of the REACH role models, organisations facilitating role modelling events, audiences - would be taken into account. In addition, 18 role modelling events were selected for in-depth analysis of short-term and long-term impact.

The evaluation reports on a range of programme implementation issues, with a view to learning lessons for future role modelling programmes. Despite some shortcomings, the evaluation found that most REACH role modelling events worked: they had a strong, positive and often lasting impact on Black boys and young Black men, especially in relation to:

• self-esteem, self-confidence, self-efficacy
• positive identity as Black boys and young Black men, and ability to challenge stereotypes of
Black men
• appreciation of the need to treat oneself and others with respect
• appreciation of the value of knowledge/education/hard work
• appreciation of the need for parental engagement (among fathers)
• broadening of career options envisaged by and deemed possible for Black men
• desire to act as role models and to contribute to the Black community
• ability to enact the specific success strategies promoted by the role models
• willingness to seek advice and support
• some commitment to promote REACH among family, friends and relevant parties
• commitment to reject crime (among prisoners)

Lessons from the evaluation are relevant to anyone seeking to develop a role modelling programme or to find out how best to motivate Black boys
to achieve their potential.