50 YEARS ON FROM THE (SECOND) RACE RELATIONS ACT, AND THE RUNNEYMEDE TRUST

50 years on from the (second) Race Relations Act, and the Runnymede Trust

This is a year of anniversaries:the centenary of (partial) woman’s suffrage,of theendof thefirst world war,the70thanniversaryofthearrival ofEmpireWindrushandof theNHS,the60th of the Notting Hill race riots,and the 50th of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech. Of course Powell’s speech was itself a reaction to another important anniversary: thesecondracerelationsact,passedin1968. When thefirst racerelationsact waspassed in 1965,it was acknowledged even by its drafters as a weak piece of legislation, extending only to‘places of public resort’. But whateveritsweaknesses,thelegislation wasground-breakingandimportantforthree reasons:first,it established that antidiscrimination was a key principle,and one that government wouldlegislateon.Second, it sent a message to the wider population that discrimination was wrong,a view that was probably in the minority.Finally,and importantly,italsosentaclearsignaltoblack and minority ethnic people that the state realised that they were experiencing discrimination,andthat thiswaswrong,and something the state would seek to remedy. The 1968 Act was in many ways an extension of these reasons to the areas of live that most affected black and minority ethnic people:housing and employment.It wasn’t until the 1968 act that the signs‘no blacks,no dogs,no Irish’were made illegal, and it’s important not to forget how weak common law was in protecting individuals from direct and explicit discrimination before it was passed. Oneoftheauthorsofearlyracerelations legislation,GeoffreyBindmanQC,has,however, suggested that few people got appropriate remedyevenunderthe1968act.Thishighlights threeissues that continue to resonate over the decades,and that sadly wereapparentin theWindrushinjustice.First,thatracerelations legislationwouldalwaysbecounterbalanced byrestrictiveimmigrationpolicy.In 1968 the Labour government also implement an immigration act,one that set intrainthe ‘partiality’conditionsofcitizenship,fully deployed in the 1971 Act,that meant that people born in the Caribbean (and Asia and Africa) would have reduced access to British citizenship,but thatwouldalsoaffect their UK-bornchildrenandgrandchildren.TheLords debateon the1968immigrationact hasvery dated language,but many peers were clear andcriticalabout theact’sintent andeffects: ‘Broadly speaking,these people are,let usfact it,coloured…Theyarecolouredpeople andipsofactoitappearsthatthisisaquestion of colour discrimination.Whether or not is to the point,that is what it looks like.It is going to be hard to convince anybody – the publicat large,andparticularly thecoloured sectionof thepublic– that thissameaction wouldhavebeentakenifallthesepeople hadbeen white’.(House of Lords debate on ImmigrationBill,Hansards,29February1968) A second lesson that emerged from the 1968racerelationsact,and the‘racerelations board’that was meant to enforce was:it is difficult to prove direct intent of racism. Bindman notes that all employers rejected accusationsofdiscrimination,evenwhen the outcomes were plain to see.For this reason – because the then-Windrush generation wereunabletogetappropriateremediesfrom discrimination,much less justice – the 1976 Race Relations Act introduced the concept ofindirect discrimination.Thisbetteraligned UK legislation with the UN human rights treaty on racism (which the UK had signed a decade previously) and focused on abuses of human rights and the denial of access to public services in terms of outcomes. This leads to the second important development of what might be called a ‘British’approach to race relations,namely the collection of data.Elsewhere in Europe datacollectionbyethnicityremainsrareand controversial,but inBritainit wasrecognised that to implement race relations legislation – to determine if people were experiencing racism or discrimination – that we needed robust evidence on the relative outcomes of white British and black British people in a rangeofareasofpublicandprivatelife,from housing to criminal justice to employment. Commemorating anniversaries brings reflection,not just celebration.As with previous Directors,I’m proud of our track record in gathering evidence,and of the commitment of so many colleagues past and present.But I also realise that evidence alone can’t change things.This was most obviousintheWindrushinjustice.Runnymede and many others highlighted how the 2014 immigrationprovisionwouldincentiviseracial discrimination from landlords as well as employers and even public services,but our concerns were ignored.We’ve urged organisationstosetapositiveand stronganti-racistculturefrom the top if they want to see equal opportunity policies bringresults,but theHome Officeresistedtheobvious point that setting out a culture of‘hostility’,encapsulated in the‘Go Home’vans would have wider effects on the 52% of BME people who were themselves migrants. It’schastening toremindourselvesagain that evidencedoesn’t changemindsorpolicy allbyitself.It evenmoreconcerning that the government’s response to theWindrush injusticesuggestsit doesn’t understand the concept ofindirect discrimination,ofexisting equalitieslegislation,or that thereasonwhy theconceptwasintroducedwasbecausethis verygenerationwasunable tosecurejustice againstdiscriminationinthe1960sand1970s. When thePrimeMinisterorHomeSecretary suggestsit wasn’t theintent toaffect people who arrived from the Caribbean,that of course doesn’t rule out the 2014 and 2016 ImmigrationActsbeingraciallydiscriminatory. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer says it isn’t the intent to hit the poorest black womenmost with thegovernment’sbudget, he’s demonstrating a failure to understand notjustindirectdiscrimination,but thepublic sector equality duty that emerged after the institutionalfailuresidentifiedintheStephen Lawrence Inquiry report. Fiftyyearsonfromthe1968racerelations actandthefoundingoftheRunnymedeTrust much has changed – and improved – in Britain.But we can’t just celebrate our past, we need to understand it,and learn from it, includingofcourse theBritishEmpirewhose legacy lives on among the victims of the Windrush injustice.

BY OMAR KHAN

An inclusive culture is about making sure everyone can bring the best of themselves to work every day.

Whether this involves improving the ethnic balance of our organisation,or celebrating thedifferent contributionspeoplecanmakewhen theyshare theirbeliefsandexperiences, we offer all our colleagues the same opportunities to grow and develop.

Simon McNamara

Chief Administrative Officer and Ethnicity sponsor

I’m proud to be the RBS executive sponsor for our ethnicity agenda,supporting the bank’s ambition to become a truly inclusive organisation. I’malsoproud that wesupport BlackHistory Month;ourethnicallydiverseagendaat RBS is incredibly important.Whether it’s about improving the ethnic balance of our organisation or valuing the different contributions people can make when they bring their beliefs and experiences to the table.There’snodoubt thisplaysakeyrolein helping to change the culture at the bank. Inmyroleassponsor,I’veseensomefantastic activity across our organisation including reciprocal mentoring sessions,coaching for colleagues on being colour brave,not colour blind and a whole host of activities and commentary from across our Multicultural network onWorkplace (our internal social channel).I am committed to doing what I can to raise awareness and push us forward as a bank in this space. I was delighted that we achieved Platinum rating this year,with Business in the Community’s Race Equality Campaign –building on our previous gold ratings to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to this agenda. Organisations benefit when they create an environmentwithadiverserangeofskillsand talents that support thephysicalandmental wellbeingofemployees.Iwillcontinuetowork onensuringthatRBSisaninclusiveorganisation that everyone wants to be a part of. Jerry Isokariari

Technology Graduate

“Beingpartofanorganisationthathasaclear visionandidentity,honestleadership,provides flexible growth for employees,promotes a collaborative culture and a fun environment is something I am really proud of. My experience in working for the bank has alwaysbeenpositive,due to thefact that the willingnesstohelpisalwaysthereacrossteams, the teams are always customer focused, diversitywithin thebankisincreasing,it isa safespace,staffareproperlyrecognisedacross the bank when something amazing is achievedandcareerdevelopment isstrongly encouragedandwelcomed.Thisin-turngives measenseofsatisfactionworkingforthebank. Working in different part of the business has been an integral part of my personal development.There is always a willingness to help and guide me through difficult task, also the trust amongst team members doubled my confidence which led to me yearning for more responsibilities. Ibelieve thebankwillachieveits2020 vision sooner rather than later because of the day to day commitment and hard work put in by colleagues with senior leaders being very supportive and encouraging. I have also had some fantastic volunteering opportunities such as my involvement in MoneySense,werewewentout tosecondary schoolstoeducatethemoncareeropportunities, working with the local nature reserve in LavendarpondandbeingamentorfortheRBS FutureLeadersGroup(FLG)annualcompetition. At the end of the day,I can gladly say that RBS has not just been a place of work for me but a place I am proud to work in. We are truly what we do!” Marjorie Strachan

Head of Inclusion

The Royal Bank of Scotland is committed to ourethnicityagendaandI’mproudtosupport Black History Month.It’s an integral part of thecalendarwithourMulticulturalNetwork and Leaders within our business organising eventsandeducatingourcolleaguesonwhat BlackHistoryMonthisandwhyit’simportant. We want to have more leaders from ethnic minorities in senior roles and in order to achieve this we have created a bank-wide positiveactionplanledbySimonMcNamaraas ExecutiveSponsor.Acriticalcomponentofthe planistodevelopastrongpipelineandensure greaterpull throughratesofethnicminority colleagues at the top levels of the bank. In January we introduced ethnicity targets, aiming to achieve 14% non-white leaders by 2025.We are in the second year of our positive action approach,which includes: reciprocal mentoring,cross-organisational mentoring and leadership development focussed on how to navigate careers as a minority in a majority culture.Progress is promising:7% of participants who feed back tell us they have been promoted and 14% have changed roles. This year we’ve been awarded Platinum status for our Ethnicity work,making us the only UK employer,at the moment,to have this award. Perhaps,more important than the benchmarking results,however,is that the engagement of our Black colleagues is 2% higher than the general population in our annual Employee Opinion Survey.