improving government service delivery to minority ethnic ... - NCCRI

Chapter 6:
Improving Service
Delivery for Minority
Ethnic Groups
Chapter 6: Improving Service Delivery for Minority Ethnic Groups 144_145
240_Lesley Irving, Equality
Unit, Scottish Executive,
speaking at the conference.
241_The Social Inclusion
Strategy – Scotland:
The Scottish Office: 1999
“ What people are looking for now is the action that comes from
that research so I think it is incumbent on all of us, because we
all have a role to play in making sure that pieces of research
such as this don’t just sit on the shelf and they do move forward
into some form of action.” 240
One of the objectives of this research project is to contribute to improving service
delivery to minority ethnic groups by comparing how public authorities provide
services in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland; and to identifying interesting
practices and initiatives with a view to sharing experiences across borders. The
following conclusions are responses to the question: “How can we improve
service provision to minority ethnic groups?”.
Mainstreaming • Joined-up Government
• Cross-border experiences
• Understanding and tackling racism
• Positive duties
• Training
Targeting • Mainstreaming AND targeting
• Recruitment and employment
Benchmarking • Data collection
• Planning and migration strategies
Engagement • Specialised and expert bodies and NGOs
• Increased engagement
• Effective communication
Mainstreaming
Joined-up Government can improve service provision
For Government service provision to all groups in society, co-operation between
Government Departments and other public bodies is important. During
this research, participants at the conference and NGOs interviewed by the
researchers have expressed concern and frustration at the lack of inter-agency
co-operation in relation to minority ethnic groups, sometimes feeling that it is not
clear where responsibility lies and that they are being passed from one service
provider to another. This can also have serious consequences, whereby antiracism
principles developed by and for Government are then ignored.
Disparate approaches by Government Departments can unwittingly reinforce
racial inequality; for example the Scottish research has explained how black and
minority ethnic groups are effectively factored out of Scotland’s Social Inclusion
Strategy, 241 whereby funds are allocated on the basis of the Scottish Index of
Multiple Deprivation. This index does not take into account racial discrimination