Promoting good race relations:
a guide for public authorities

Under the third strand of the statutory duty to promote race equality, public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are required to 'promote good race relations'. But what exactly is good race relations, and what practical steps might a public authority take to work towards it?

This section of the website explains what is meant by good race relations, and gives examples of the types of activities that are likely to promote good race relations and help authorities to meet this part of the duty.

The specific duties provide a framework to ensure the better performance of the general race equality duty through developing and implementing race equality schemes (RESs), or race equality policies (REPs) in the case of schools or further and higher education institutions. Public authorities subject to the general duty must address all three parts of the race equality duty when developing their RESs and REPs.

• Specific duties: race equality schemes

This section builds on the guidance provided elsewhere in the race equality duty section of this website. It is primarily intended for use by public authorities in meeting their statutory duty to promote race equality under the Race Relations Act. However, since promoting good race relations requires effective action by all sectors in society, this guide also includes guidance prepared specifically for private and voluntary sector organisations.

We have produced a number of publications which provide further guidance on the general and specific duties. These are available from the Publications section of this website.

• Publications catalogue: The race equality duty

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What's in this guide

Click on a title to go straight to any chapter of this guide.

• Foreword
  by CRE chair Trevor Phillips
• Introduction
  The background to this guide, its purpose and status, definition and principles of good race relations.
• Laying the foundations
  The role of leadership and management in embedding good race relations in policy development, how to plan your approach to take into account the specific duties to promote race equality under the Act, public authorities' specific duty as employers, and guidance on how to use the media to support your work.
• Public sector guidance
  Roles and responsibilities of central government, local government, schools, institutions of further and higher education, and criminal justice, health and housing bodies. Includes sector-specific case studies.
• Voluntary sector
  How to help public authorities in promoting good race relations, capacity-building work, promoting under-represented groups, the role of racial equality councils and similar local organisations.
• Private sector guidance
  Guidance for business working in partnership with public authorities bound by the race equality duty, good practice in service delivery, the business case for promoting good race relations as part of your corporate social responsibility activities.
• Glossary
  Explanations of the terms used in this guide.
• Bibliography
  A list of published materials referred to in this text.
• Feedback form
  Tell us what you think of the guide.
• Case studies
  Links to all case studies referred to throughout this guide.

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