Tackling Social and Financial Exclusion

Despite a presence spanning over 40 years, Britain’s minority ethnic communities continue to experience discrimination and disadvantage in their everyday lives. Members of these communities are among the most impoverished and socially excluded in the country today.

Key Statistics

Official figures - including the Census 2001 and government’s own data show that:

• 70% of all people from ethnic minorities live in the 88 most deprived local authority
• districts in England, compared with 40% of the general population.
• Black Caribbean pupils are three times more likely to be permanently excluded from schools in England than White pupils.
• Almost half of all Bangladeshis and about a third of Pakistanis have no qualifications, compared with 15% of White British people.
• Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have the highest rates of reported ill health and disability of any other group in Britain - twice and 1.5 times higher than the White British population respectively.
• Pakistani women have the highest unemployment rates (20%) of any other population group in Britain - about three times the rates for White British women.
• Indian women are five times more likely to be working as sewing machinists, packers, bottlers, canners and fillers than White British women.
• About half of all prosecutions of religious aggravated offences are perpetrated against Muslim victims.
• While 7.9% of the UK population belongs to an ethnic minority other than White, only 2% of Members of Parliament do.