§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings the Race Relations Forum has held since its formation; what priorities and targets the Forum has adopted; what representations the604W Forum has made to which departments of Government; what changes have been made to the membership of the Forum; what procedures are in place for the appointment of new members of the Forum; and what measures the Forum has taken to secure representations from the Irish community. [89904]
§ Mr. StrawThe Forum has met four times: on 23 June, 14 October 1998, 9 March and 28–29 June 1999. The Forum has discussed race issues in the Home Office and its services with me and the Permanent Secretary; in the armed forces with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence; and with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in his areas of responsibility. It also had a presentation from two of the Advisers to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and discussed how the Report's recommendations might be implemented. At its last meeting, it considered the development of a race equality strategy across government.
There have been three changes in membership. Pauline Schofield, Project Co-ordinator of the Birmingham Irish Community Forum, has replaced Gobnait Ni Chrualaoi, who resigned as the representative of the Irish community. Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs, Chief Executive of the Runnymede Trust and a Member of the Department for Education and Employment Advisory Group on Raising Awareness of Ethnic Minority Pupils, and Gloria Mills, Director of Equal Opportunities at UNISON, have joined the Forum. Appointments are made on the basis of recommendations from a selection panel comprising the Head of the Race Equality Unit, my Race Relations Adviser and an independent, academic member.