The drivers of Black and Asian people's perceptions of racial discrimination by public services
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.
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