Nearly half of the actions set out in the Government’s plan to tackle racial inequality and level up communities have been delivered, the women and equalities minister has said.
Kemi Badenoch announced that 32 of the 74 measures in the Inclusive Britain strategy published just over a year ago have been completed.
The 97-page plan was developed in response to a controversial 2021 report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
I know that we need to do more to tackle disparities and build people’s trust in our great institutions— Kemi Badenoch
The commitments that have been fulfilled include the improvement of adoption rates for ethnic minority children, the Equalities Office said.
The Government funded a national recruitment campaign to find more adoptive parents, with data showing there were 670 approved adopters in March 2022 compared to 450 in the same month in 2020.
The Government is also backing the trial of an automatic opt-in to help young people receive independent legal advice in police custody.
In addition, it set out a plan to improve literacy and numeracy standards for disadvantaged pupils in last year’s schools White Paper.
On Monday, new guidance is being issued to employers on how to measure and report on any unfair ethnicity pay gaps in their businesses.
It tells you everything about this Conservative Government’s limited ambition that it thinks meeting less than half the targets in its half-baked plan to tackle racial injustice is worth celebrating— Labour's Anneliese Dodds
Ms Badenoch said: “The concrete actions we have delivered over the last year are improving people’s day-to-day lives, but I know that we need to do more to tackle disparities and build people’s trust in our great institutions.
“The ground-breaking Inclusive Britain Action Plan was an excellent first step, and we will continue to deliver on its promises, tackling the complex causes behind racial disparities with data-driven action.
“We must all work together to ensure no-one is held back by their race, social or ethnic background.”
Her office said the Government would continue its work to deliver the remaining commitments over the next year.
Labour’s shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds said: “It tells you everything about this Conservative Government’s limited ambition that it thinks meeting less than half the targets in its half-baked plan to tackle racial injustice is worth celebrating.
“If the Prime Minister was really serious about making Britain more inclusive, he could start by reining in those in his Cabinet who use divisive, dog-whistle comments to cover for their failures.
“Labour will take real action to tackle structural racial inequality in our society by introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers and bringing in a landmark Race Equality Act to tackle this problem at source.“
