AQW 47381/11-15


Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry


Tabled Date: 17/06/2015
Answered On Date: 24/07/2015
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister what steps have been taken to support and develop the underpinning principles and key priorities of Together: Building a United Community to address race related and hate crime.


Answer:
Together: Building a United Community (T: BUC) and the forthcoming Racial Equality Strategy are designed to complement one another.
A Ministerial Panel oversees the delivery of the T: BUC strategy and sets the strategy direction for improving community relations within our society. This Panel will also have a role in overseeing the implementation of the Racial Equality Strategy.
The Ministerial Panel is supported by the Good Relations Programme Board, comprising senior officials from all Government Departments. The Board reviews the progress of Departments in implementing their actions and commitments, looking at ways of working together in order to make maximum impact in terms of improving community relations and focusing on specific areas of concern. To that end the Board has held specific meetings focusing on race hate and how Government and its statutory partners can work better together in response to race hate incidents. These discussions have also helped to inform the Department’s work on the new Racial Equality Strategy.
Thematic subgroups set up under the auspices of the Ministerial Panel, such as the Community Tensions Subgroup, which looks at a range of issues including sectarianism, race hate and intra-community tensions. The membership of other thematic subgroups will also include representation from minority ethnic organisations. It is intended that a racial equality subgroup will also be incorporated into this structure.
A range of funding sources from right across Government, including OFMDFM through the Central Good Relations Fund, District Councils Good Relations Programme, Minority Ethnic Development Fund as well as funding from the Community Relations Council, are available to improve community relations and race relations right across our society as well as tackle issues such as sectarianism and race related hate crime.
Lastly the development of the new Good Relations Indicators and their application in the funding stratums in 2015/16 will enable the Department to assess the impact its funding is making in tackling issues such as intolerance, sectarianism, racism and homophobia.