Many minorities 'live in poverty'

Some 40% of people from ethnic minority backgrounds are living in poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said. The figure is twice as high as it is for white people, and rises to 65% for those of Bangladeshi origin, it says. The charity's research also suggests minorities are still overlooked in the workplace compared with others, despite often having better qualifications.

It says government policy needs an "urgent rethink" but ministers insist new measures are being considered. The foundation classifies individuals and families with incomes 60% of the national average as living in poverty, a measure also used by the government.

Equal opportunity

The foundation said more thought needed to be given to how assistance was targeted to minority groups to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace.

Publishing a series of reports examining the link between poverty and ethnicity, the foundation said 40% of people from minority backgrounds were currently living in poverty. This figure rose as high as 55% for those from Pakistani backgrounds and 45% for black Africans. Almost one in three of those from Indian and black Caribbean backgrounds are below the poverty line.

Success in raising educational standards among minorities had not been rewarded by commensurate progress in the workplace, the reports found. Pakistani and Bangladeshi men with degrees were less likely to be employed than their white counterparts while women from Asian backgrounds suffered high levels of unemployment.

These problems were not confined to first generation immigrants, it concluded, with British-born individuals from minority backgrounds less likely to be in work than their white equivalents.

Ministerial summit

"Although the past decade has seen some improvements, there are still some very serious problems which remain unsolved," said foundation director Julia Unwin. "This research shows how policies need to address the different situation of each group and be followed through on a practical level."

Employment and Welfare Reform Minister Jim Murphy said the lives of ethnic minority groups had improved over the last decade but acknowledged more needed to be done.

"The City Strategy programmes, a new partnership between government and providers, will help to tackle worklessness amongst ethnic minority communities," he said. "The Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force will be proposing new ways of tackling employer discrimination ahead of a ministerial summit early in the summer."

BBC

Hope not Hate blog: Balls to poverty...

Day four and we're in Lincoln as I write this in a very quiet, engine-noise free cafe by the Cathedral, filling up on caffeine before our next stint in the bus up to Sheffield where we're spending the night.

This morning found us in a school playing field on the edge of Nottingham, suffering slightly from the effects of the previous night's hotel pub quiz (we were robbed) and being mobbed by hundreds and hundreds of primary school children...

We were there at the invitation of an initiative called Balls to Poverty run by the inspiring Head of Football at South Nottingham College, Joe Sargonis. He also coaches at Nottingham Forest and was helping train a team in South Africa when he came up with the idea of sending footballs to Soweto.

This year he's taking 7,000 balls to 7,000 children all of whom will receive coaching from his 22 player squad of footballers at the college. Today was a practice run with kids from the local Cotgrove primary school and they loved it even on a cold misty morning, running around the playing fields and cheering the bus as it pulled up.

They all had tours of the bus and photographs taken and we kicked some footballs around with them. By 11am we were glad to get back on the bus for a rest...

Next stop was Lincoln, where we pulled up right outside the Cathedral with the Bishop's express permission. Some of the blue rinse brigade weren't best pleased by us spoiling the view, but we were supported by well-wishers and by a completely astonishing and very sprightly 87-year-old war veteran who told us how he'd fought the Nazis in Germany in the 40s and wasn't about to stand for it now in Lincoln.

As a Wireless Operator for the Manchester Bombers in WW2 James Taylor had been shot out of the sky over Germany and dropped to earth on a parachute. He described it so beautifully you could almost see it - him floating down in falling snow with the sound of the dogs barking down below. His last action on the plane had been to eat the piece of rice paper that had all the codes for the German radios on it, as instructed by Bomber Command. His fellow airmen were killed, but he landed safely into wet muddy ground to be captured by the Germans. He then spent years in six different POW camps including the one on which the Great Escape is based. I could have talked to him for hours about his life. You don't get to meet that many people truly deserving of the word hero.

Bishop John was also impressive, explaining why the BNP's ideology is completely at odds with the teachings of the New Testament and how it was important for clergy to make a stand. The BNP are standing in a few wards in Lincoln in the May elections, so it's a real frontline issue for people there.

Lincoln Cathedral is completely beautiful, an architectural masterpiece listed as one of the six most important buildings in Europe. The sun shone on us at last and against a blue sky it was an inspiring sight. It has amazing details like 365 steps up to the top of the tower, the Bishop said, one for every day of the week.

Tomorrow, Sheffield....

Character of the Day: Known locally as the Flying Bishop, John - the Bishop of Lincoln - explained he got his nickname because he has a habit of throwing himself out of planes and off buildings for charity.

Question of the Day: why oh why are there so many low bridges in Lincolnshire? Do they have something against double decker buses round here? Like Maggie Thatcher, our bus is not for turning...

Hero of the day: James Taylor

Tune of the day: Calvin Harris, "I got love for you, if you were born in the Eighties, the Eighties...."

Quote of the day: "They've got a great big bus... a BUS I tell you... outside the Cathedral... Just like that, as if it's perfectly okay to put a great big huge RED bus in front of the Cathedral, a historic building... It's advertising something. Hope apparently..."

U-turn of the day: John the photographer's sat nav took us into a field.

Mirror