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

A communication on integration from the European Commission in September 2005 begins to strengthen the
implementation of the common basic principles on integration, described earlier. 52 The principles have been
developed to include guidance for Member States. Some of the guidance mirrors that offered in the handbook
on integration. One of the principles relates to access for immigrants to institutions, as well as to public
and private goods and services, on an equal basis to national citizens and in a non-discriminatory way. It is
recommended that the capacity of public and private service providers be strengthened in relation to interaction
with minority ethnic groups, including “intercultural interpretation and translation, mentoring, intermediary
services by immigrant communities, ‘one-stop-shop’ information points”. It is also recommended that information
tools are developed, such as manuals, websites and registers of staff’s diversity skills. Schemes to gather and
analyse information about the needs of groups through consultation, information exchange and surveys are also
recommended.
Based on best practice, the European handbook outlines the importance of staff to providing appropriate
services. It recommends that intercultural competence can be used as a component of job profiles. Likewise,
this was recommended in the Australian example above. It also stresses that intercultural competence of those
members of staff who come into contact with the public is particularly important, recruitment for higher-level
positions without such direct contact should also use diversity criteria.
It is recommended that government initiatives can promote the recruitment of staff from minority ethnic groups.
In the Australian example outlined above, recruitment of staff from minority ethnic groups was not included
in the Policy Framework as this is already managed by the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity which is
responsible for evaluating and reporting on public authority progress towards the achievement of a diverse
workforce. This is primarily achieved through analysis of the demographic profile of employees. 53
52_European Commission
(2005), A Common Agenda
for Integration – Framework
for the Integration of Third-
Country Nationals in the
European Union.
53_www.oeeo.wa.gov.au/
index.htm
54_European Monitoring
Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia (2003),
Migrants, Minorities and
Employment: Exclusion,
Discrimination and
Anti‐discrimination on
15 Member States of the
European Union, p.92.
55 _Cormack, J. and
Neissen, Jan (2002),
Public Procurement
and Anti‐discrimination
Legislation, in Chopin and
Neissen (eds), Combating
Racial and Ethnic
Discrimination: Taking
the European Legislative
Agenda Further, p.35.
A report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia also urged governments to increase
the ethnic diversity of their staff:
“ Public authorities at the national, regional and local levels as well as other public and
semi-public institutions should serve as a role model for anti-discrimination and equal
opportunity policies. Therefore, legislators should review the regulations restricting
access to employment in the public sector for third country nationals, especially in
occupations like teaching, social work, public transport and health.” 54
The European handbook also suggests that organisations might want to recognise and possibly remunerate the
linguistic skills, cultural knowledge and community contacts of their staff. It recommends the encouragement
of and financial support for the study of languages by employees. Intercultural training is considered a
fundamental requirement for all staff; however, it is also recognised that individuals staff members cannot be
fully equipped to independently provide suitable services to people from all cultures and languages and it is
stressed that it is important to have access to trained interpreters or to specialised advisors on cultural and
religious matters.
It has been argued that governments have significant leverage as in many European countries governments are
the largest employer and purchaser of goods and services. 55 Therefore, in addition to a focus on staffing and
recruitment, some strategies focus on government procurement and outsourcing. In the Australian example
provided, the Policy Framework includes explicit reference to outsourcing and contractors. This is in recognition
that some government department effectively ‘outsource’ much of their service provision and it requires that the
contractors operate under the same Policy Framework as the department themselves, for example in relation to