Christian race relation expert points to the Church after new race audit

Nims Obunge CEO of the Peace Alliance spoke to Premier News Hour about a new racial disparity audit into how people of different races are treated in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

Among the findings are:

:: Asian, black and other ethnic groups were disproportionately likely to be on a low income, with almost half of households in bottom 40% nationally before housing costs were taken into account.

:: Households of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, black, mixed and other backgrounds were more likely to receive income-related benefits and tax credits than those in other ethnic groups.

:: Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers received the lowest average hourly pay of £11.42, while Indian workers received the highest on £15.81.

:: Ethnic minorities are more likely to live in areas of deprivation, especially black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people.

:: White pupils from state schools had the lowest university entry rate of any ethnic group in 2016. Chinese pupils had the highest attainment throughout school, made the most progress and were the most likely to stay in education and go to university.

Theresa May has warned public services there is nowhere to hide if they treat black and ethnic minorities worse than white people.

Obunge told Premier: “Let’s look at what the church can do because I think society is also a reflection of the church.

“Maybe we also need to audit ourselves before we point any fingers to society and say ‘you got this wrong’.”

He added: “We need to be asking some very difficult questions. Who is the staff in Number 10? Who are the people that actually work in government that form the policy we have as a nation?”