Local government

Local authorities can significantly affect race relations, due to the nature and wide range of powers and responsibilities, the scope for political decision-making, and the way they carry out these responsibilities.

Local authorities are central to many public services that are closest to peoples everyday lives, such as housing, education, welfare, and leisure services. As the democratically elected authority for the area, local authorities also have a responsibility to provide leadership on these issues to other local organisations, and to citizens generally. How local authorities meet their duties under the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA) can therefore be a powerful factor in the promotion of racial equality and good race relations in their local area.

Local authorities should also look at the guidance for the voluntary sector, which provides advice on working in partnership with the voluntary sector.

• Voluntary sector guidance

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Promoting good race relations: dos and donts

You should consider all five parts of the definition of good race relations :

Do:

• Make sure that your race equality scheme addresses the duty to promote good race relations, and provide adequate resources to carry out all requirements.
• Encourage participation by all racial groups in the local democratic process.
• Case study: Breaking down barriers
• Encourage dialogue between different racial groups on the adequacy of your service provision.
• Promote activities that celebrate diversity generally, and that foster understanding and respect for the cultures and faiths of local residents.
• Case study: Celebrating St George
• Case study: Keeping residents well-informed
• Keep accurate records of all the ethnic and faith groups in your area, their backgrounds and needs.
• Make sure that policies for land use and local regeneration schemes are equitable, and enable members of all racial groups to benefit equally from local facilities and opportunities.
• Make sure that your policies for housing allocation maximise opportunities for people from all racial groups to interact, and that they do not effectively lead to segregation of racial groups.
• Use your grant-giving powers to support activities that will promote good race relations.
• Make sure you are informed of any racial tensions locally, and work with other agencies to resolve these.
• Case study: Getting the message across
• Work with other public authorities and voluntary or community organisations on all of the above, and take the lead in creating partnerships wherever appropriate.
• Case study: A joined-up approach
• Make sure your contractors understand and take into consideration the duty to promote good race relations (see our guide Race Equality and Procurement in Local Government for details of how to do this)
• Make sure that all staff are fully consulted on, and are supportive of, policies to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations, including using the use of positive action measures where appropriate.
• Deal with complaints of discrimination and harassment from staff speedily, and notify staff of the outcomes of action taken.

Dont:

• Fail to address in your race equality scheme the duty to promote good race relations, or provide adequate resources to ensure delivery.
• Avoid discussion of racial issues, or treat them as taboo or irrelevant to the local area.
• Ignore tensions between local racial and ethnic groups.
• Fail to use your powers to tackle racial harassment and the activities of racist organisations effectively.
• Show disregard or disrespect for cultural and religious issues in the ways that you provide your services.
• Fail to explain clearly your rationale for grant allocation between different racial groups or local areas, which can lead to misunderstandings and mutual resentment.
• Ignore complaints of discrimination and harassment from staff, which can lead to a drop in staff morale.
• Fail to make sure all staff are fully consulted on, and are involved in the development of policies to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations.

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Your organisation

The role of elected members

Democratically elected local councillors have a key role to play in leading their communities and overseeing how services are provided in their local areas. Good local government empowers local communities. This is clearly important in promoting good race relations, as local authorities need to represent all members of their communities as well as showing leadership in promoting good relations overall.

Elected members should therefore:

• understand fully their responsibility to promote good race relations;
• provide clear leadership for this work internally and outside the authority;
• make sure the duty is implemented effectively by local authority staff;
• make sure their own practice and public statements are consistent with this duty;
• make sure their political parties give clear support to the duty; and
• use their political parties to promote ethnic minority participation in local government.

Working in partnership

Working closely with others to promote good race relations in local authority areas is essential. As the democratically elected government for the area, you should take the lead in ensuring that existing partnerships, such as local strategic partnerships (LSPs), include work to promote good race relations, and in creating new partnerships to promote good race relations, where needed (for example, to tackle racial harassment).

When working in partnership, you should inform partner organisations of how you intend to meet the requirements of the race equality duty, including the duty to promote good race relations, and make sure they all adopt your approach. This should include, where relevant, the requirement to promote good race relations in procurement contracts and service agreements as a performance standard for how services are delivered. For more details, see our guide Race Equality and Procurement in Local Government, available from the Downloads section of this page.

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