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- - - - - - - Existing UK migration powers vis-à-vis Northern Ireland, with particular reference to how the Scottish Executive has used the powers available to it. Economic and social requirements for migrant workers in Northern Ireland, existing population skill sets and skill deficits, and associated projections. Reference to neighbouring jurisdictions, notably Scotland and Republic of Ireland, both for the purposes of cross-border co-operation and for ‘lessons learnt’. Data collection associated with a local migration strategy and associated benefits. North-south issues and opportunities with the Republic of Ireland. East-west issues and opportunities with Scotland, with a particular engagement with the Scottish Executive. The relationship between a migration strategy and other key policies such as the Shared Future and the Racial Equality Strategy, as well as policies in areas such as employment. 253_Daniel Holder, Animate, Northern Ireland, Roundtable Discussion Facilitator at the Conference. 254_http://ec.europa.eu/ justice_home/fsj/rights/ fsj_rights_agency_en.htm Whilst data collection is essential for planning and there may be a lack of accurate data at present, the fact that ethnic and cultural diversity has increased significantly and looks set to continue to increase in each jurisdiction should provide a strong impetus for planning Government services to meet this need. Planning to meet the needs of a significant minority of our societies now needs to be a priority. As one Roundtable Discussion Group at the conference pointed out: “ …move away from the issue purely of resourcing to one of prioritisation. Not everything can be done, but there are examples of when maybe it’s an issue of prioritisation or an attitude that holds things back rather than actual hard cash.” 253 Engagement Specialised and expert bodies and NGOs can contribute to improving service provision A number of bodies who have played an important role alongside Governments in informing service provision to minority ethnic groups have been described in this report. These include the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in Scotland, the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland, and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) in Ireland. The Equality Commission in Northern Ireland replaced the CRE in Northern Ireland and is responsible for equality across all grounds of discrimination. Similarly, the Equality Act 2006 in the UK provides for a Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) to be established to replace the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Disability Rights Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality. These developments are in line with EU developments as the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) is being replaced by a Fundamental Rights Agency, not limited to racism. 254 There are always concerns that the commitment to, and expertise associated with, racial equality will be diluted by these types of developments. Employers and Trade Unions also have a role to play in meeting the needs of minority ethnic groups; particularly migrant workers NGOs have also been active in both advocacy and service provision, including for example Animate and STEP in Northern Ireland. It is important to note this dual role. Whilst some NGOs focus on service provision, other NGOs have an important role to play in advocating for change and in contributing to the racial equality agenda.
improving government service delivery to minority ethnic groups Chapter 6: Improving Service Delivery for Minority Ethnic Groups 154_155 255_Eileen Chan-Hu, Ballymena Inter-ethnic Forum, Northern Ireland, speaking at the conference. 256_Rob Berkeley, Runnymede Trust, UK, speaking at the conference. In order to effectively contribute, specialised and expert bodies and NGOs must be adequately resourced. For example the research from Ireland indicates that there is a lack of financial stability within the NGO sector. Increased engagement is essential for improving service provision This research indicates that service providers are by and large aware of the need for engagement with minority ethnic groups; as one interviewee from a service provider in Northern Ireland said: “ We are trying to address the needs of the people…we aren’t in a position to say what their needs are. We need them to be confident that there is a policy to deliver what is needed – not what we think they need.” It is not only Government service providers who must engage with minority ethnic groups; many specialised bodies and NGOs are not led by people from minority ethnic backgrounds and as such must consult regularly with minority ethnic groups. NGOs and specialised bodies have expressed the importance of engagement with minority ethnic groups: “ We have based everything around people, without them we’re nothing.” 255 However, engagement must become mainstreamed. There is a need to engage with a variety of groups, in a variety of ways at every stage of service design, delivery and review. Sometimes service providers express concern at the potential cost of such engagement; in reality, it prevents resources being misdirected into unsuitable services. It also ensures that minority ethnic groups are involved in agenda setting and not just as passive recipients of services. This research has indicated some examples where minority ethnic groups have shown a reluctance to engage in consultation. The following comment made a panellist at the conference provides an insight into some of the issues in this area: “ Participation is often inviting people in to comment on your agenda and not allowing them to set the agenda at all. And it’s very often: “guess what I’ve written on this piece of paper”, because you very rarely see your view turn up in the final outcome. So in order for participation to be real, it needs to be done with some level of feedback to show that OK, I decided to ignore you this time and be bold enough to say that. Thanks for your views, we disagree. The challenge is to get people to come back to the table to think that they may win the battle next time.” 256 Also, there is sometimes a tendency for service providers, whose employees tend to be from the dominant ethnic group, to focus on compliance and enforcement related services which affect minority ethnic groups (for example, driving offences, immigration control, etc.), rather than on the priorities for the groups themselves. It is only through engagement that Government service providers can ascertain whether services comply with the four ‘A’s:
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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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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
Page 126 and 127: Interviews carried out with employe
Page 128 and 129: Official agencies and policies in t
Page 130 and 131: Targeting The need to target ethnic
Page 132 and 133: Employment By and large Irish immig
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Page 136 and 137: An anti-racism intercultural progra
Page 138 and 139: Conclusions The Irish statutory sec
Page 141 and 142: Chapter 5: Conference Discussions 1
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Page 150 and 151: Understanding and tackling racism w
Page 152 and 153: As discussed above, there is a lack
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Page 158 and 159: “ …the four As that the previou
Page 161 and 162: Appendix 1: Research Project Struct
Page 163 and 164: Appendix 2: List of Organisations I
Page 167 and 168: Appendix 3: Recommended Data Collec
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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