§ Mr. EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department of the Macpherson Inquiry recommendations; and if he will make a statement. [80527]
§ Mr. StrawI refer to the reply which my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave on 14 April 1999,Official Report, columns 239–40. This referred to the Action Plan I published on 23 March containing the detailed response to the recommendations of the Macpherson Inquiry. That plan is a long term programme to deliver permanent improvements to policing in every area.
The plan makes it clear that progress on policing must be part of a wider context and commits the Government to setting out, over coming months, how they will take forward their wider vision of an anti-racist society. I have already announced that the Government will legislate to extend the Race Relations Act 1976 not just to the police service as the Inquiry recommended but across all public services.
I will take personal responsibility for oversight of this programme. I am, therefore, establishing a steering group which I will chair which will include members from the police service, other relevant organisations as well as substantial representation from minority ethnic communities. The steering group will meet for the first time next month.
The Home Office Management Board has been working since early 1998 on taking forward at corporate level the commitment to race equality within the department. The Departmental Race Equality Action Plan includes commitments by the Board agreed following its first race equality training day in October 1998. Since publication of the Inquiry report, the Management Board held a further race equality seminar on 25–26 March and identified progress to date and further action points to take forward the Departmental Race Equality Action Plan.