Lammy Review

Debate between Lord Griffiths of Burry Port and Lord Keen of Elie

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Griffiths of Burry Port (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, we have heard ample reference to the fact that a number of aspects of the way racial minorities are treated in the justice system has simply got worse since the Lammy report, which is difficult to square with the assurance given by the Minister that so much is being done. Let me quote someone from the Government Benches: Mr Sajid Javid argues that it is time to shine a light on injustice, but that that is not enough. He says:

“We need an action plan … The Racial Disparity Audit found the data. The commission must deliver the solutions.”


The Runnymede Trust added that the Government are “knee-deep in evidence”. Can the Minister give us the assurance that a sense of urgency is being injected into this whole process? We have heard the same allegations over and over again since Scarman in 1981.

[Lord Keen of Elie [V]]

My Lords, we are committed to improving the collection and publication of data, and to using the data to identify and tackle disparities across the criminal justice system. We have been working very closely with the Race Disparity Unit since its formation in 2016, and we continue to add and update metrics on the ethnicity facts and figures website as part of our commitment to transparency.