New government action to create stronger, more integrated Britain
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£50m to support new Integrated Communities Strategy Strategy
includes bold proposals to boost English language skills, increase
opportunities for women and promote British values in education
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid today (14 March) set out
an ambitious long-term plan of action to tackle the root causes of
poor integration and create a stronger, more united
Britain. The Integrated Communities Strategy Green
Paper, to...Request free trial
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid today (14 March) set out an ambitious long-term plan of action to tackle the root causes of poor integration and create a stronger, more united Britain. The Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, to which £50m will be committed over the next two years, seeks views on the Government’s bold proposals to boost English language skills, increase opportunities for more women to enter the workplace, and promote British values and meaningful discussion between young people. Britain is on the whole, a well-integrated society, with 85 per cent of people reporting a feeling of belonging strongly to Britain. But the evidence, including Dame Louise Casey’s independent review into opportunity and integration, overwhelmingly points to a significant number of communities being divided along race, faith or socio-economic lines. This reduces opportunities for people to mix with others from different backgrounds, allows mistrust and misunderstanding to grow, and prevents those living in isolated communities from taking advantage of the opportunities that living in Britain offers. The strategy sets out a range of actions the government plans to take to bring divided communities together, including:
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:
"Britain can rightly claim to be one of the most successful
diverse societies in the world. But we cannot ignore the fact
that in too many parts of our country, communities are divided,
preventing people from taking full advantage of the opportunities
that living in modern Britain offers.
“Successive governments have refused to deal with the integration
challenges we face head on, preferring to let people muddle along
and live isolated and separated lives.
“We will put an end to this through our new strategy which will
create a country that works for everyone, whatever their
background and wherever they come from. Integration challenges
are not uniform throughout the country, with different areas and
communities having varying needs.”
The government will work with five 'Integration Pilot Areas' to
develop local integration plans: Blackburn with Darwen; Bradford;
Peterborough; Walsall and Waltham Forest.
These five local authorities have already demonstrated a keen
grasp of the challenges they face and shown a desire to try new
things and learn from what works. Learning from these areas about
what works - and, just as importantly, what doesn’t work - will
be shared more widely as the programme develops.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:
“We want to make sure that all children learn the values that
underpin our society – including fairness, tolerance and respect.
These are values that help knit our communities together, which
is why education is at the heart of this strategy.
“It’s also important that children are taught in a safe
environment and that we can act quickly if children are at risk
or being encouraged to undermine these values. Together, with
Ofsted and communities across the country, we will build on the
work already underway to achieve this.”
We want to start a debate on the Integrated Communities Strategy, to find the most effective ways to address integration challenges. The Consultation will run for 12 weeks to 5th June. Further measures included as part of the Integrated Communities Strategy:
Notes to editors:
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