The Home room of the House of Lords swarmed with two parties unevenly seated with the Baroness McGregor-Smith at the head on the afternoon of Thursday, 28th April, 2016. Members of media organisations representative of ethnic minorities. Others were the team of civil servants detailed with supporting the commission of the Baroness to review the BME labour market situation and examine the circumstances of limitations and how these could be helped.
The Baroness expressed the concern about the scope of limitations that seemed to challenge the expectation of ethnic minority representation to equate with their numbers in the communities. Various contexts were proffered by invitees ranging from cultural philosophies and varying degrees of acculturation, subtle but effective racism, insufficient facilitation of integration, inequalities, institutional separation at employment and rights to business cum social infrastructure, etc.
Individual cases were cited to buttress some of these issues while the Baroness clearly believed that situations could be better for the involvement of ethnic minorities in communities and business if their participation could be better enhanced.
The Baroness acknowledged that the sitting was not an end in itself but a continuum to which the assembly could be called upon for further dialogue. She charged the sitting with the supportive task of disseminating the concerns of government in this regard and bring back feedbacks from the communities, as well as solutions proffered for consideration. She expressed optimism that the issues so raised can be tackled in an all inclusive action context to create better representation of the BME in more meaningful positions and strategic participation.
