Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Tuesday 20th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

The commission looked at specific areas; it did not examine Pontins. It did not say that there is no institutional racism in Britain; as I said in my statement, it said that about the areas it looked at. I do not believe that the holiday sector was one of the areas it examined. For what it is worth, no business should discriminate against people on the basis of their ethnicity or background. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman and I share that view. I do not know the full details of the Pontins situation, but that is exactly the kind of thing that we want to address in Government, so that we can make sure that communities get fair treatment. What is good about the commission’s report is that, unlike many reports that look at race and racism, is actually looks at the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller community, especially in respect of education—many people ignore them because they are classified as white, which I do not think is the right way to go. That is one reason why it is important to disaggregate BAME and talk about specific groups.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con) [V]]

May I thank my hon. Friend the Minister personally for reaching out after the threat that my fiancé and I received last week?

Since the report was published, many Carshalton and Wallington residents have asked to see the Government’s response and what action is now going to be taken. Will my hon. Friend confirm that once a response has been issued and work has begun on implementing recommendations, the GEO will begin to establish mechanisms to measure the success of measures and provide regular updates to the House?

[Kemi Badenoch]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. This is very much part of the ethos of the equality hub: there is no point in enacting policy and then not checking to see whether it is successful. In fact, too many resources have probably been spent on creating activities but not necessarily checking whether they are generating the benefits that we expect. I thank my hon. Friend for that question and assure him that that is the way we intend to approach these issues.