THE EUROPEAN Union Agency for fundamental rights in a Survey published on November 11 2019 found that across the EU (European Union), which then included the UK, people of African descent face widespread and entrenched prejudice and exclusion, though the UK scored lower than other countries on most measures. Calling people who want to see better outcomes for this and future generations “well-meaning”, “misguided” or similar and suggesting this is just an agenda of the “left” is patronising and offensive. It fuels a phoney culture war more obsessed with protecting statues and memorials than investing in real people’s lives.

Why have they issued a statement defending the report when they said they felt able to make “with confidence sometimes controversial arguments”? Because it ignored the wealth of evidence that they went through and excludes voices that do not buy into their narrow “agency” rhetoric.

Yes, arguments about discrimination almost always start with data. How else? But what is crucial is the data chosen, how it is framed and then presented. That is where the cherry-picking in the report is evident.

White working-class boys may well leave school with less or no qualifications but data shows they still get well-paid jobs and improve their social status. The opposite is true for black Africans.

Dr Cordella Bart-Stewart

How to lie with statistics*

The report says “differences – or ‘disparities’ – are not always sinister and do not always arise from discrimination”. True. But equally, where those differences point to something sinister and systematic it should be called out. Instead, it desperately looks for alternative explanations and where there is none recommends more data collection, future mini-commissions and claims to have commissioned its own “unpublished” research.

What should have been a useful and timely report is undermined by the predetermined intent to change words that this government, its advisers, a particular section of the media and its readers do not want to hear. Institutional or systemic racism does not need to be deliberate or targeted. Had the Commission not followed that route there are aspects in the report that many of us might have accepted and engaged with in the hope of real and lasting improvement. We never asked for the BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) label so happily take that back and acknowledge that black, Asian or others are not a homogeneous group.

There is also the matter of the leaked headline to move away from funding unconscious bias training. Unconscious bias training should never have been seen as a panacea on its own, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. They recognise the role diversity and inclusion training has had in moving the dial and creating a space for conversations in organisations to redress actual and perceived discrimination. The most helpful interventions are mentorship and sponsorship; however, underrepresented groups systematically fail to be appointed even in the widest of pools because of bias, conscious and unconscious preference and groupthink. Unconscious bias training raises that awareness.

Get on with previous review recommendations

They acknowledge the numerous reports and reviews which highlight discrimination and disproportionate outcomes particularly for African and African Caribbean people in the UK but do not tell the government to get on with implementing the recommendations. A discussion on “stop and search” highlights something disingenuous is going on as policymakers say it’s about deterring knife crime but the police on the street say it is about combatting drug use. Black and Asians are then targeted disproportionately but the report pivots to a final swipe that offending behaviour is always a “choice” and also fails to acknowledge institutional racism as defined in the MacPherson report.

The employment headline is that the ethnic pay gap is closing but confirms what we know – that some ethnic groups do far better than others. By backtracking on mandatory pay reporting, companies and organisations including public services have a get out clause which undermines actual levelling up.

Government must face up to structural and systemic faults

There is useful discussion on education. African and Caribbean children start school with no significant disparity in meeting the expected standard in development but disparity widens by age 10-11 and continues throughout their educational life. White working-class boys may well leave school with less or no qualifications but data shows they still get well-paid jobs and improve their social status. The opposite is true for black Africans who are most likely to be well qualified yet underemployed.

The discussion confirms poor educational outcomes for black boys regardless of socio-economic background but again moves on. Black parents are paying for private tuition and sending their children to private schools where studies show they still face racism and stereotyping. The attainment gap for children on free school meals is increasing when it declined up to 2010. High quality early years show a downward trend in attainment. The report could have looked at what was in place such as Sure Start and the Educational Maintenance Allowance helping to keep disadvantaged children in further education and improve their future prospects. With its history and legacy of empire the UK has a duty to be more than just better than the worst. Analysis of the data and the wealth of previous review recommendations that the report seeks to ignore justifies a continued pessimistic narrative until this government faces up to the structural and systemic faults that continue to hold back black people.

*How to Lie with Statistics is a book by Darrell Huff

Dr Cordella Bart-Stewart OBE is a practising solicitor, holds an honorary degree from Staffordshire University and is a former governor. She is a Chartered Manager, Law School external examiner, co-founder of the Black Solicitors Network, Council member of the Law Society of England & Wales and board member of IMPRESS, the independent monitor for the press. Her OBE is for services to the legal profession, diversity and education.