1. The following Press Release, supplemented with extra
information, gives the details relating to racial discrimination in the
Commission for Racial Equality, Local Authority Councils, and other Government Departments.
Press Release
The British Sikh Federation (BSF) hopes that Sir Paul Condon will not
resign, but will stay in post to see through the necessary changes. Other
Police Services have admitted institutionalised racial discrimination, and it
would be pointless and damaging to expect so many Chief Constables to resign.
The Police officers on duty / at fault should resign or be dismissed instead.
The BSF has welcomed Sir Paul Condon’s and Home Secretary’s measures to
combat racial discrimination and corruption; the BSF had previously urged the
Home Secretary to set local recruitment targets for the large towns and cities,
as well as national targets elsewhere. The BSF has also offered a meeting and
practical help in the recruitment of the 600,000 British Sikh Community to the
Police Service. In the past Police Services have made very little effort to
recruit from the British Asian Communities ( Sikh, Bangladeshi, Indian,
Pakistani), which are twice as large as the Black community in terms of
population size. Sikhs have a long tradition of serving in the Police and Armed
Services, and some 1.5 million Sikhs served in the Armed Forces during both
World Wars. The BSF is currently working with the West Midlands Police to
produce appropriate and focused recruitment material.
The BSF will be drawing the Inquiry Report to the attention of the United
Nations, so that progress in the UK can be monitored by an external
organisation; previous experience in the USA has indicated that effective
progress was not made by Police management in overcoming institutionalised
racial discrimination / or improvements in relations with ethnic minority
communities.
The Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee needs to look at the extent of
Free Masons in the Police Service, in a similar manner to that for Judges, and
determine the effect on recruitment, retention and promotion of ethnic
minorities. It is believed that it is necessary to become a Free Mason in order
to “get on”, and that some 20 – 25% of serving Police men are members, with an
even higher proportion amongst the senior Officers. Whilst people should be
free to join whatever “club / secret society” they choose, including
Freemasonry, they should not take part when there is a conflict of interests,
e.g. in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of fellow Free Masons; the
conflict of interest should be declared (an oath of allegiance is taken to help
and support fellow Free Masons), and no further part should be taken in such
involvement. Non-Free Masons should not be interviewed by Free Masons for such
posts, and such an approach would give ethnic minorities and other whites
fairer treatment and equality of opportunity on the basis of merit and
abilities.
The Police still need to make the internal inquiry into the death of
London Asian Ricky Reel available to the public, and explain why the police
officers acted so negligently, and what action will be taken against those
Police officers.
Institutionalised racial discrimination is prevalent in many large
organisations and companies, e.g. Teaching (previously reported by the BSF, and
last week raised by the CRE Chairman as well), Medical, Water/ Gas /
Electricity utilities, Commission for Racial Equality, Local Authority
Councils, County Councils, etc. The Home Secretary should require all such
bodies to put in place monitoring and targets for the recruitment, retention,
and promotion of ethnic minorities.
Separate targets should be set in place for the Asian communities (Sikh,
Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani), otherwise Asians will not get their fair share
of jobs, and the majority of jobs would be given to the Black communities, e.g.
Black Jobs Asian
Jobs
Commission for Racial Equality 44% 19%
Birmingham City Council 8.5% (5.9%) 6.1% (13.5%)
Sandwell Borough Council 6.6% (3.3%) 5.6% (10.8%)
Walsall Borough Council 5.74% (1.32%) 2.17%
(7.90%)
Wolverhampton Borough Council 6.44% (5.21%) 5.87%
(12.85%)
Merton London Borough Council 9.6% (5.9%) 2.7% (8.1%)
Hammersmith & Fulham London B.C 22.7% (8.2%)
3.6% (3.7%)
Corporation of London
4.26% 0.8%
Waltham Forest London B.C 19.2%
(11.45%) 7.34% (10.60%)
City of Nottingham Council 6.3% (3.8%) 3.9% (3.4%)
Nottinghamshire County Council 3.79% 1.67%
Cabinet Office 6.0% 3.2%
Dept for Education and Employment 5.1% 2.8%
Dept of Health 7.6% 4.7%
Police 0.8% 0.7%
Police Civilian Staff (inc Traffic Wdns)
2.1% 1.2%
Crown Prosecution Service 4.1% 4.7%
Serious Fraud Office
12.2% 3.7%
Magistrates Court Staff 2.2% 1.8%
Probation Service 7.0% 1.3%
Prison Officer grades 1.5% 0.7%
Criminal Injuries Comp. Authority/panel
14.4% 7.2%
Figures in brackets indicate population proportions from the 1991 Census;
the job figures were provided by the organisations themselves. The figures for
the central government depts. e.g. Cabinet Office, DfEE, Dept of Health were
obtained from the Institute for Employment Studies, Equality Proofing in Performance
Review in the Civil Service, April 2000.
From the above it can be seen that so many large public bodies practice
racial discrimination against the Asians, and even the Commission for Racial Equality
practices racial discrimination against Whites (who get only 31% of the jobs)
and Asians, since Asians are twice as large as Blacks on a population
proportion basis and have higher educational achievement rates according to the
Government Office for National Statistics, e.g. those studying for a first or
higher degree in 1995 (19-24 age) gave Sikhs & Indians: 29%, Black:12%,
White : 13%, Pakistani/Bangladeshi:14%.
In Wolverhampton Borough Council alone, some 700-1200 jobs are denied to
Asians, amounting to a loss of £11-18 million per year in salaries alone,
whilst blacks receive 124 more jobs in comparison to their 1991 Census
population proportion.
Kashmir Singh LL.B, LL.M 24
February 1999 / April 2000 / June 2001
General Secretary
PS: The Government subsequently announced ethnic minorities targets for
recruitment, retention, promotions, and delivery of services for the Police,
National Health Service, Teachers, and all other central Government
Departments. The CRE chairman announced he was taking early retirement during
1999, with a leaving date in year 2000; a new CRE Executive Director was also
appointed. However, the CRE has not yet announced positive action plans to
counter the racial discrimination against Whites and Asians working for the
CRE.
Despite many requests for information, Wolverhampton Borough Council
Chief Executive failed to provide any statistics on the ethnic origins of its
employees; it appeared there was something to hide, e.g. the racial
discrimination against Asians.
Eventually the BSF managed to get the figures indirectly in January
2000.
12 February 2000