| Good evening.
I'm aware that I'm standing between 500 of you and your dinner - an
uncomfortable place for any politician to be - so I'll keep my comments
brief.
But I'm delighted to be talking about diversity tonight. With Race
for Opportunity, leaders in the field, and Allan Leighton.
As Allan says
"Diversity is not about equal opportunities or compliance, it's
about being more competitive, especially in a downturn."
Our economy is changing.
China's joined the WTO; India's producing a quarter of a million
sciences and IT graduates a year; and ten more countries are joining the
EU next year. Meaning more opportunities, but more competition as well.
Plus, technology and consumer tastes are now changing so fast that
product life-cycles - once four or five years from design to decline -
are now just one or two years.
Society is changing too. With
- Life expectancy going up by one year every four years;
- Men now taking on a third of childcare duties;
- Half all new jobs over the next ten years going to ethnic
minorities.
In the face of this, you'd think we'd be pulling the stops out to put
more people into more jobs. But, in fact, we're pulling the plug out. On
huge sections of society and our workforce.
- Women are still held back with a pay gap of 19%.
- A third of over 45s are out of work
- Disability and sexual orientation remains an issue, despite huge
efforts by employers and groups like Stonewall.
And racial discrimination too. One of the most socially divisive and
terrible kinds of discrimination, yet still pervasive.
British African Caribbean's in particular still suffer from a
"rule of 4" -.
- Four times as likely to be expelled from school - though there's
no evidence they play truant more;
- Four times as likely to be refused a job interview - though
there's no evidence they're worse qualified;
- Four times as likely to be unemployed - though there's no evidence
they don't have the same skills;
- Four times as likely to be unemployed even when they're graduates.
So we've got this situation where black graduates are working as taxi
drivers, because they can't find the right job for their skills.
And some young black men talk of walking up and down the High Street
unable to find a Bank that wants to open an account for them. This is
something I did a lot of work on as Economic Secretary to the Treasury.
Some progress has been made. But there's still lots to do.
These are not problems exclusive to African Caribbean or any other
one ethnic minority group.
Pakistani and Bangladeshi people and communities also suffer endemic
levels of discrimination and inequality. Anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia
are on the increase across Europe. The BNP is still gaining ground and
votes here at home.
Unemployment is twice as high amongst ethnic minorities. And they are
half as likely to receive job related training.
Even amongst the Race for Opportunity members, there are only 86
ethnic minority people operating at Chief executive/Permanent Secretary
level out of a potential pool of 2 million.
This is terrible on an economic level. But it's even more terrible
for individuals as well.
We all know people who have encountered discrimination: being turned
down for jobs; overlooked for promotion; or seen the little monster of
prejudice in their employer's eyes during pay or performance reviews.
It's not political correctness or a sense of what's right that means
we should stamp this out.
It's economics - the "brown pound".
Ethnic minorities are worth £32 billion a year. They're keen to
spend it, keener to take advantage of new technologies - more likely to
have mobile phones and Internet access. Twice as likely to start up
businesses too.
All of us together, in Government, business, trade unions and
individuals are working together to turn this around.
That's why diversity is top of the agenda for so many businesses.
Many here in this room.
The financial institutions and retailers are leading the way.
Unsurprisingly, because these are the organisations that see their
customers every day, at the till, or over the counter.
But they're all coming up with really innovative and creative
solutions.
B&Q, at their employees' suggestion, celebrate different cultures
and religions festivals at their stores. Employees are encouraged to
talk about their values and cultures at work and in team briefings.
At Lloyds TSB, sales have gone up 30% in branches where they changed
staffing levels to better reflect the ethnicity of their customers.
Sainsburys has introduced different ethnic food ranges.
HBOS, after extensive research, started sending out Indian sweets -
traditionally used at happy occasions - in direct marketing campaigns.
Their feedback showed customers were positively surprised the bank had
made such an effort to understand their culture.
Earlier this evening we enjoyed the latest Bollywood meets Liberty X
advert. A refreshing change from some of the more traditional adverts.
Other industries are finding new ways to target ethnic minority
customers as well. Although, as the IPA report last week showed, some ad
agencies are still opting for the easier option of familiar tactics in
familiar mediums.
But overall, innovation in business. Innovation in advertising.
Innovation in Government too.
I'm delighted that my own Department came ninth overall in this
year's survey, and went up from silver to gold. I've congratulated my
Permanent Secretary Robin Young for his leadership.
We can expect greater success on recruitment and retention; tendering
and procurement policies: and stakeholder engagement.
We've changed the way we market our consumer messages, so they better
reflect the multicultural backgrounds of the end users. For example, on
our fireworks campaigns.
We've also involved ethnic minority led media and businesses in
helping us to develop and design policies which will impact on
retailers. For example, we changed the pricing regulations so we could
allow the haggling that is such an integral, and fun, part of some
cultures.
But Government's role goes much further than just being a good
employer.
Ever since we came into office, we've been determined to create a
Britain where everyone can reach their full potential; where racism is
unacceptable and counteracted; where racial diversity is celebrated.
The whole Cabinet is hugely committed to this.
With the New Deal for Young People, the new Learning and Skills
Councils, the Small Business Service and the Employment Service, we're
promoting equality.
We're putting money into the Partnership Fund and Challenge Fund to
help drive the culture change along.
And we legislate where we need to.
Legislation is always the area that causes the most controversy and
has the loud minority ranting about political correctness, positive
discrimination, quotas and employing people who are not up to the job.
You know it's not about any of these things. It's about making sure
that the best people can get the right jobs.
If there are people who think discrimination doesn't matter, or that
its ok to harass gay men, deny people jobs because of their colour or
religion, or sack people because they've developed a disability, then I
am quite clear that we'll never agree.
Let me say quite clearly - equality of opportunity is a fundamental
human right and a central platform of this Government's social policy
because it's right for our future competitiveness, it's right for
business, and it's right for our society.
One of the other ways Government can help is by spreading best
practice.
Last year, I published a series of case studies making the business
case for diversity.
Today I can announce that I am today writing to 500 key business
leaders inviting them to follow the example of the organisations
gathered in this room tonight - to work with Race for Opportunity to
meet their objectives in this area.
My main case is that doing so will be good for their business.
As your own benchmarking report this year has shown conclusively,
working on race brings better performance and real improvements in
corporate reputation, customer and stakeholder satisfaction; employee
morale and the bottom line.
Only 18 FTSE 100 companies put their head above the parapet and
participated in the RfO benchmarking this year. Next year, I want to see
this number double, or even increase by a greater multiple.
In many ways, tonight I am preaching to the converted. So let me take
this opportunity to congratulate you and Race for Opportunity on all
that you have achieved this far.
I wish you every success for the future, and the courage to keep on
trying, to keep on innovating, and to keep on succeeding. To keep on
showing the rest of UK business how it is done.
To close, the prize ahead of us is a stronger economy and a stronger
society.
We all have something to gain. We all have something to contribute.
It's a complex issue. But, with the partnership we're developing, I
believe we can make real progress tackling this issue. Creating a
society and an economy where everyone can reach their potential. For
themselves and their families.
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