Britain: An official handbook > 1993

BRITAIN 1993: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
The Equal Opportunities Commission, set
up in 1975 (1976 in Northern Ireland under
separate laws), has powers to enforce some
parts of the Sex Discrimination and Equal
Pay Acts. Its statutory duties are to work
towards the elimination of sex discrimination
and to promote equality of opportunity. The
Commission may advise people of their rights
under the Acts and may give financial or
other assistance to help individuals conduct a
case before a court or tribunal. It is
empowered to carry out formal investigations
and issue notices requiring discriminatory
practices to stop. The Commission also keeps
sex discrimination and equal pay legislation
under review and submits proposals for
amending it to the Government.
Ethnic and National Minorities
For centuries people from overseas have
settled in Britain, either to escape political or
religious persecution or in search of better
economic opportunities.2
The Irish have long formed a large section
of the population. Jewish refugees who came
to Britain towards the end of the nineteenth
century and in the 1930s were followed by
other European refugees after 1945.
Substantial immigration from the Caribbean
and the South Asian sub-continent dates
principally from the 1950s and 1960s. There
are also sizeable groups from the United
States and Canada, as well as Australians,
Chinese, Greek and Turkish Cypriots,
Italians and Spaniards. More recently people
from Latin America, Indo-China and Sri
Lanka have sought refuge in Britain.
In 1989-91, according to the results of the
Labour Force Survey, the ethnic minority
population of Great Britain numbered about
2 7 million (some 4 9 per cent of the total
population), of whom 46 per cent were born
in Britain. Just over half of the ethnic
minority population was of Indian, Pakistani
or Bangladeshi origin; less than one-fifth was
of Afro-Caribbean ethnic origin; and over one
in ten was of mixed ethnic origin.
The survey also indicated that the
2For further information see Ethnic Minorities (Aspects of
Britain: HMSO, 1991).
proportion of men of working age in Great
Britain who were economically active was
higher among the white population (89 per
cent) than among those from minority ethnic
groups (84 per cent of Afro-Caribbeans and
Indians and 75 per cent of those of
Pakistani/Bangladeshi origin). Among women
the variation was greater: 76 per cent of those
from the Afro-Caribbean ethnic group were
economically active, compared with 72 per
cent in the white group, 60 per cent in the
Indian group and only 25 per cent in the
Pakistani/Bangladeshi group.
Alleviating Racial Disadvantage
Although many members of the black and
Asian communities are concentrated in the
inner cities, where there are problems of
deprivation and social stress, progress has
been made over the last 20 years in tackling
racial disadvantage in Britain.
Many individuals have achieved distinction
in their careers and in public life, and the
proportion of ethnic minority members
occupying professional and managerial
positions is increasing. In law, for example,
an estimated 6 per cent of practising
barristers are of ethnic minority origin. There
are at present six ethnic minority Members of
Parliament, and the number of ethnic
minority councillors in local government is
growing. There has also been an expansion of
commercial enterprise, and numerous self-
help projects in ethnic minority communities
have been established. Black competitors have
represented Britain in a range of sporting
activities, and ethnic minority talents in the
arts and in entertainment have increasingly
been recognised.
The principal means of combating
disadvantage is through the economic,
environmental, educational and health
programmes of central government and local
authorities. There are also special allocations,
mainly through Home Office grants and the
Urban Programme, which channel extra
resources into projects of specific benefit to
ethnic minorities. These include, for example,
the provision of specialist teachers for
children needing English language tuition,
business support services, and measures to
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