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and inequality and black and ethnic minority communities have not traditionally resided in the geographical communities that are highly ranked according to the traditional indicators of deprivation. 242 A lack of a joined-up approach can result in openly contradictory Government policies, or in anomalies and systemic (probably unintentional) barriers. For example, the research from the Republic of Ireland outlines problems faced by asylum seekers. They receive a payment from the Health Services Executive (HSE) until they achieve refugee status and are transferred onto a social welfare payment from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. In order to get funding to attend post-leaving certificate courses a prospective student needs to be on this social welfare payment for six months to be eligible. However, asylum seekers’ prior HSE payments are not taken into account; so that students must wait a further six months on social welfare before becoming eligible. Communities Scotland (an agency of the Scottish Executive) has taken a number of initiatives to progress racial equality, including commissioning a number of reviews in different local authority areas to assess the housing needs, preferences and circumstances of the black and minority ethnic communities. 243 The report highlighted that there was a need for closer collaboration between housing, social work and other services to address housing needs which are related to social care issues and safety from racial harassment in neighbourhoods and schools. It also reported the need for joint working between Communities Scotland, Aberdeen City Council and Registered Social Landlords to increase the availability of larger-sized accommodation in areas which are perceived to be free of racial harassment; and recommended working with the main providers of international student accommodation to address the shortage of affordable accommodation. 242_GARA (2005) Integrating Race, Regeneration and Community Planning in Glasgow. 243_Communities Scotland (2004) Improving Understanding of the Housing Circumstances of Minority Ethnic Communities in Aberdeen City. 244_Martin Collins, Assistant Director, Pavee Point Travellers Centre, Ireland, speaking at the conference. Where there remain striking inequalities and issues with Government service provision to certain groups, specialised monitoring and/or implementation bodies, including both Government representatives and representatives from the minority ethnic communities should be considered. A prime example would be in relation to service provision for Travellers/Gypsy Travellers. “ …for the last two years we’ve had in the South a committee called High Level Senior Officials Group… for two years we lobbied and campaigned to have Traveller representation on that committee and our pleas fell on deaf ears. And really this is a throwback to the ‘60’s whereby non-Travellers felt that they had the God given right to make decisions on Traveller affairs, decisions which impact on our lives. And anyway, this committee published its report yesterday, and there was no Traveller involvement, and the report itself is quite problematic, and it’s setting a tone and direction which is really not in Travellers interests, and that could have been so different if there was a real partnership between Travellers and this High Level Senior Officials committee, and it’s also in direct contradiction with the National Action Plan Against Racism, the Plan has five themes and one of those is participation.” 244 Joined up approaches apply within individual organisations as well. For example, in Northern Ireland people from minority ethnic groups reported differing levels of service provision from organisations such as the PSNI. Examples of joined-up approaches: The research from the Republic of Ireland indicated that the establishment of an Interdepartmental working group (with representation from the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Health and Children, Education and Science, and Environment and Local Government) to address all aspects of refugee
improving government service delivery to minority ethnic groups Chapter 6: Improving Service Delivery for Minority Ethnic Groups 146_147 245_SELB, Trinity College Dublin (2005), Together Towards Inclusion. resettlement in an integrated and sustainable manner was an example of a more joined-up approach. Interviews and focus groups in Northern Ireland indicated that inter-agency forums as set up by Ballymena Community Forum were thought to be beneficial for both public authorities and minority ethnic groups alike. In this research, the example of O’Kane Poultry in Ballymena was used as an example of how an employer can liaise with other bodies to meet the needs of migrant workers. Cross-border experiences can be shared to improve service provision Despite the differences between Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, similar trends appear in each jurisdiction and this research has presented an important opportunity for cross-border learning and sharing of experience. Some organisations included in the Emerging Findings Discussion Paper and involved in the conference have been approached by service providers and other interested parties from outside their jurisdiction keen to learn from their experience. Whilst there tends to be cross-border co-operation for security purposes, some of which has negatively impacted on minority ethnic groups, there needs to be a focus on cross-border co-operation for racial equality purposes. Roundtable discussions hosted by the NCCRI’s Synergy project (a project focusing on racial equality in the border area in Ireland and assisting with cross-border co-operation on racial equality) have identified issues relating to the border affecting minority ethnic groups including Travellers who have crossed from one jurisdiction to another have had long delays in enrolling their children in schools or registering with a GP whilst waiting on paperwork from the other jurisdiction and recent migrants to Ireland crossing the border into Northern Ireland without realising they have entered a different jurisdiction and being deported by UK immigration police without a chance to explain/contact people at home. Other projects have also identified common issues for service providers North and South. For example, a pilot study of the educational needs of pupils from non-English speaking backgrounds in a group of primary schools in Dublin, Kildare and Tyrone 245 made a number of cross-border recommendations. Among these were that North-South co-operation would be valuable in preparing a pre-service training module for teaching English as an additional language (EAL) in all teacher training colleges on the island, as well as helping to develop the expertise of classroom teachers to deal with various levels of English language proficiency in mainstream classrooms and developing ‘toolkits’. While this research clearly shows the benefits of learning from one’s nearest neighbours, the research is likely to have had an impact through the mechanisms by which it has operated and been governed. The research has engaged key representatives from several Government Departments, various NGOs and minority ethnic groups, and researchers from several organisations from the three jurisdictions. A series of Steering, Advisory and Research meetings have been held throughout the project where people have developed their knowledge of legislation, policies and practices in each jurisdiction. There is a need for a cross-border infrastructure to facilitate and co-ordinate this cross-border networking and learning on an ongoing basis. Those already involved in this project could meet bi-annually to discuss the strengthening of co-operation in areas such as exchange of information and staff, analysis of common problems, joint training, sharing of best practice and even convergence in policy-making based on effective practice. In addition this group could assist with identifying key projects and approaches for future funding proposals to programmes such as the EU Programme for Cross Border Territorial Cooperation Ireland/Northern Ireland/Scotland 2007–2013 and the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE II) and INTERREG IIIA Programmes.
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IMPROVING GOVERNMENT SERVICE DELIVE
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About this publication This is the
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One of the innovative elements of t
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CHAPTER 4: IRELAND RESEARCH FINDING
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Executive Summary 8_ title EXECUTIV
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improving government service delive
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Chapter 1: Context 26_27 CHAPTER 1:
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It states that the long term, high
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Demographics 78 Overview of Migrant
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Figure 2: National Insurance Number
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Methods A questionnaire was designe
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- - - The Conduct of Employment Age
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Targeting For all organisations tas
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Case Example 2 - Health Craigavon A
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Case Example 4 - Employment 110 Bus
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esearch; however, it appeared that
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The PSNI annual Human Rights confer
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Benchmarking The issue of data coll
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Despite the increase in recorded in
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Table 2: Breakdown of Respondents b
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Figure 4: Percentage of Respondents
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Figure 5: Ease of Providing Service
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The impact of Section 75 on organis
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Table 9: Data Collected Yes No Don
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Lack of knowledge in the health sec
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Housing In regard to housing issues
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Chapter 3: Scotland Research Findin
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Page 110 and 111: Demographics Until data from the fo
Page 112 and 113: Figure 8: PPSNs Poland 103,177 55%
Page 114 and 115: Prospects for ongoing strong immigr
Page 116 and 117: Both the Equal Employment Act 1998
Page 118 and 119: Methodology The NPAR will undoubted
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Page 122 and 123: Awareness of legislation and policy
Page 124 and 125: e expected to pay the non-EU fee, w
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Page 130 and 131: Targeting The need to target ethnic
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Page 136 and 137: An anti-racism intercultural progra
Page 138 and 139: Conclusions The Irish statutory sec
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Page 152 and 153: As discussed above, there is a lack
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Page 156 and 157: - - - - - - - Existing UK migration
Page 158 and 159: “ …the four As that the previou
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Page 163 and 164: Appendix 2: List of Organisations I
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Page 169 and 170: Glossary 166_167 Glossary 267_Scott
Page 173 and 174: Acronyms 170_171 Acronyms280 280_In
Page 176: This research has been carried out
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