Ethnic Minorities and the Labour Market (EMLM) Strategic Group
Note of 6th Meeting
Victoria Quay, Edinburgh
10 July 2006
Present:
Charan Gill, Chair
Alison Colvine, Equality Unit, Scottish Executive
Rosemary Winter-Scott, Transitions to Work Division
Naeem Bhatti, Transitions to Work Division, Scottish Executive
David McPhee, Analytical Services Division, Scottish Executive
Scott Skinner, Scottish Enterprise
Kaiser Khan, Glasgow City Council
Zaffir Hakim, STUC
Morag Patrick, Commission for Racial Equality
John Feechan, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow
Linda McTavish, Anniesland College
Tracy Walker, SCDI
Gail Honeyman, Futureskills Scotland
Philippa Bonella, Equal Opportunities Commission
Habib Hashmi, STUC Black Workers Committee
Farrah Meherali, Rocket Science
Richard Scothorne, Rocket Science
Apologies
Celia Carson, SCVO
Jermaine Allison, STUC Black Workers Committee, Habib Hashmi attending
Lesley Irving, Equality Unit, Scottish Executive
Joe Dowd, Transitions to Work Division, Scottish Executive
Aileen Ponton, Sector Skills Councils
Richard Cairns, Glasgow City Council, Kaiser Khan attending
Maggie Lennon, Bridges Project
Linda Prattis, Jobcentre Plus
Minister for Communities
Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
David Watt, IoD Scotland
Robert Irvine, DWP
1.
Welcome and Introductions
The Chair welcomed everyone to the penultimate meeting and especially Philippa Bonella.
Members introduced themselves.
2.
Minutes from previous meeting and action plan
The group confirmed that minutes were a true reflection of the discussion and agreed its
contents. ActionsSecretariat to develop proposal for engagement with banks – This work is currently
ongoing and actions have been developed which the Secretariat will pursue further.
Scottish Executive Officials to liaise with Glasgow Welfare to Work Forum to ensure
ethnic minority organisations are consulted if they make a bid as part of the Cities
Strategy- The chair wrote to the Chair of Glasgow Welfare to work Forum and Leader of
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Glasgow City Council. A response was received from the Chair of Glasgow Welfare to Work
Forum advising that the Forum will consult the EMLM Group about involving ethnic
minority organisations if the City is successful in its bid and as detailed plan is developed.
The chair will also write to Edinburgh and Dundee partnerships highlighting the above.
Secretariat to set up meetings with stakeholders on the action plan, list of meetings to be
circulated to group members – This was sent with the meeting papers.
Secretariat to issue full draft action plan by 17 July and to advise members of the likely
contents of the draft action plan by 10 July – (agenda item)
DWP update – In Robert Irvine’s absence Alison Colvine provided an update as she had
recently attended the Senior Officials group meeting. The next Ethnic Minority Task Force
Group meeting will take place on 21 July 2006. The main agenda item will be on
procurement as Home Office and DWP are in the process of contacting various Whitehall
departments in relation to the work on procurement pilots. Home Office and DWP were
encouraged that Scottish Executive procurement colleagues are keen to pilot a project in
Scotland and as a result Scottish Executive is included in the Whitehall procurement pilot. It
was decided that the Scottish Executive should circulate the EMLM action plan for comment
to the Senior Officials Group due to many cross cutting issues.
Actions
 Secretariat to circulate the EMLM action plan to the Senior Officials group for
comment.
3.
Presentation on Workforce Plus – an Employability Framework for Scotland
Rosemary Winter-Scott gave a presentation on the recently published Workforce Plus and
how it links with the work of the EMLM strategic group. The presentation is attached to the
e-mail. In discussion, following points were raised:
 Ethnic minorities are channelled into certain sectors (such as equality officers in
public and voluntary sectors) and it is vital that people are not moved into short-term
projects.
 Focus on growth sector is an encouraging step;
 The involvement of the private sector is not evident in the implementation, although
representatives from the private sector were involved in the 5 workstreams that were
set up while developing the framework; and
 If Glasgow is successful in its bid to become a DWP City Pathfinder it may receive
some additional funding. There is a willingness amongst the various organisations to
use both this and the funding already available more effectively. In addition, Glasgow
and Dundee, if selected as a City Pathfinder, will only be required to produce one
action plan for both Cities and Workforce Plus.
Hard copies of Workforce Plus and More Choices: More Chances, the NEET strategy to
reduce the proportion on 16-19 Not in Education, Employment or Training were distributed.
4.
BME Women and the Labour Market Interim Report
Phillipa Bonella discussed the interim findings of the EOC’s report on the formal
investigation into ethnic minority women in the labour market. Copies of the interim report
from the Scottish element of the investigation and suggested action points were circulated
with the meeting papers. Early conclusions are that ethnic minority women:
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have high aspirations but their potential is not being harnessed within the labour
market;
face race, sex and religious discrimination both within the workplace and during their
journey into the labour market;
can only progress if employers debunk outdated stereotypes and assumptions;
need access to affordable, local and culturally appropriate childcare; and
need access to training and support into employment which is sensitive to their needs,
flexible and available on a part-time basis
In England, government policy on race has tended to focus on the employment gap. EOC
research shows that the full potential of ethnic minority women will not be realised until
action is taken to open up jobs for ethnic minority women in a range of sectors, to improve
their chances of getting a secure, well-paid job and to increase their visibility in senior
positions. Action on these wider fronts is likely to improve employment rates by creating
more positive role models and increasing confidence in the younger generation about the
range of options open to them.
To achieve real change, EOC has set out a range of suggestions below which the EMLM
group should consider as part of its final action plan:
 Action to open up choices for young ethnic minority women at school and beyond;
 Action to tackle myths, misinformation and stereotypes; and
 Tackling barriers to employment and progression at work.
Members were broadly supportive of the actions suggested by the EOC.
5.
Update on action plan
The Chair asked Alison Colvine to provide an update on the progress of the draft action plan.
An interim drafting meeting was held on 7th July to help shape actions up, which was
attended by Morag Patrick, Scott Skinner, Brian Climie, Garry Clark, David McPhee, David
Seers, Alison Colvine and Naeem Bhatti. Alison has drafted a paper which summarises
previous meeting discussions and actions suggested. David has also drafted a paper on key
indicators which could lead to the development of targets.
Data and Indicators
David explained that the indicators could used to monitor the improvement in ethnic minority
attainment. He suggested setting targets for the following indicators:
 Employment rate of ethnic minorities;
 White vs. non-white needs to be monitored with a broader definition of ethnic
minority needed;
 Education data (ethnic minority pupils in schools, ethnic minority teachers, exclusion
and absence rates of ethnic minority pupils, attainment and drop out rates) are widely
available and it would be good if the above indicators are monitored;
 Claimant count data is helpful but it has its limitations as some ethnic minorities do
not claim benefits;
 Data on the number of employees from an ethnic minority background in public
bodies;
 Data on employer attitudes is currently missing and will be collected both from the
public and private sector employers; and
 Data gaps in private sector will also be addressed.
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The group agreed that indicators also needed to be set for the private sector.
It was acknowledged that considerable progress has been made in terms of data collecting
exercise but the issue of an ethnic boost to the labour force survey (LFS) had not been
discussed. David confirmed that his recent contact with ONS colleagues has been very
positive as ONS have now formed a provisional proposal for the ethnic minority boost to the
LFS. In order to maintain unbiased sampling for LFS, ONS will now approach an area and
ask those taking part in the survey if their neighbour is from an ethnic minority background.
This methodology will ensure sampling is not affected to ensure a proportional
representation. ONS will provide a general cost to David by the end of the month and the
Scottish Executive will then have to weigh up the cost and benefits analysis. However, even
if the Scottish Executive agrees to the cost for the boost of LFS, it may be six to eight months
before any data is available.
Development of action plan
Both papers were discussed in the drafting group meeting and will lead to the development of
the action plan. The group agreed to condense the plan to 10-15 actions which will have
impact. The draft action plan will be circulated on Monday 17 July. It will be a brief
document with the
 Key objectives
o Elimination of the ethnic penalty
o Reduction of the employment gap
o Reduction in occupational segregation
 Targets (with consideration of measurement and public reporting systems)
 10-15 Action points (which will be based on targets and actions in the attached paper)
Stakeholder meetings and Finalising the action plan
Stakeholder meetings will be held 18-20 July and will help shape actions up (list of meetings
circulated with meeting papers). Additional meetings have also been set up with sector skills
councils, Jobcentre Plus and Communities Scotland. A further draft will be issued on 21 July
for discussion at the group’s final meeting on 24 July. Rocket Science will facilitate the last
group meeting on the action plan. This will take into consideration group comments and the
consultation meetings. The final action plan will be published on the Scottish Executive
website. This will then form part of the National Race Equality Strategy and action plan
which will be published in November (consultation event in October).
6.
Labour Market segregation
Farrah Meherali introduced the paper on Labour Market Segregation. Main points were as
follows:
 Labour market segregation is a broad issue;
 If ethnicity is an issue then that creates segregation;
 The role of school/careers advisors also can lead of segregation due to stereotyping;
 Research has shown that application forms are treated differently;
 If ethnic minority individuals do reach the labour market then they can and do face
discrimination at work; and
 Ethnic minority businesses work long hours for very low pay which maintains the
segregation
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Group members then considered the following questions in small groups:
 Are there any other points which should be added to the analysis?
 Key factors in overcoming barriers: What practical actions should we be
recommending and what should we prioritise?
Other points for analysis
 is there any clearer picture of what is happening in Scotland specifically;
 any research on the perception of potential employers - why don't they recruit ethnic
minorities, or how do they view ethnic minority candidates (stereotypes);
 any research on the changes in employer attitudes over time;
 why there is a fear of racism amongst ethnic minority individuals in some sectors;
 there was not anything in the paper on self employment; and
 are there any ethnic minority role models.
Overcoming barriers
 dual action needed on engagement with community - especially ethnic minority
parents and engagement with employers;
 employer engagement needs to be with both the public and private sector;
 need to ensure the employer engagement is focused not scattered;
 need to focus on skills gap - selling it as a business case that an individual does not
need to have a degree to have a job but can equally do so if they take up an Modern
Apprenticeship etc;
 In Scotland must focus on growth sectors of tourism, finance, food and drink as
opposed to allowing ethnic minority communities to settle for 'safe' public sector
'typical jobs' of equality officer etc;
 We must mainstream equality/diversity as part of the best value framework within
businesses and using Investor in People schemes as leverages; and
 must introduce and promote internships, especially in the public sector, specifically to
ethnic minority communities. Must also encourage the private sector to 'ring fence'
their existing schemes for ethnic minority individuals.
Actions
Rocket Science to draft the action points
7.
AOB
No AOB was raised
8.
Next Meeting
The Chair reminded members that the next meeting is the group’s final meeting and it will
take place on Monday 24th July 2006 from 10:00 am – 12:30 pm in Victoria Quay,
Edinburgh. The final meeting will be when the group will agree and sign off the action plan.
EMLM Secretariat
Scottish Executive
July 2006
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