improving UK social relations
Will the passage of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000lead to improved social relations in Britain?The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 is concerned with outlawing discrimination on the grounds of race in public life. It extends the Race Relations Act 1976, which was concerned with outlawing racial discrimination towards individuals and thus tackling individual wrongs, by emphasising the responsibility of public bodies to tackle institutional racism. It was passed in November 2000 and while some of its provisions came into force in April 2001, others did not take effect until 31st May 2002. In 2003 it appears to have had some success, with two thirds of public companies having complied with the legislation 1. As yet little case law exists. As it emerges, it will help to establish how the courts will regard the workings and meanings of the Act in practice. However because the Act builds upon earlier legislation and is a response to the findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, one can make some reasonably intelligent guesses about the impact of the Act on social work and social care. Of particular interest to people exploring social work and social policy are the ways in which the Act links with social work value
The 1976 Act also established the Commission for Race Equality (the CRE) which was given a statutory duty to work towards the elimination of discrimination, to promote race quality, to keep the 1976 Act under review and to exercise strategic powers of enforcement. jsp?story=458769 - Independent Newspaper, 30 October 2003, By Kate Hilpernhttp://society. One of the most significant changes was that the police services came under the jurisdiction of the Act. The Act makes it unlawful for public authorities to discriminate in the exercise of their functions, thus implementing recommendation 11 of the Lawrence Inquiry report. The Lawrence family began a campaign for justice after no charges were brought against any individual. It does not, however, outlaw discrimination based on religion or lifestyles (for example against Rastafarians or travellers). The Act arose out of the government's response to the findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, which was set up in July 1997, to examine the way in which the Metropolitan Police Service had investigated the murder of a black teenager four years earlier. Law enforcement: for example, criminal investigations, arrest, bail, detention and stop and search by police officers and officers with similar powers such as Customs and Excise. With little recognition of the importance of the role that these workers have, feelings of being marginalised are bound to occur. At the time MPs said that it would take 10 years to bring about real change in the Police force, however, Detective Chief Inspector Terry Devoil of the Metropolitan Police stated that, "Academics argue that it takes at least 10 years to change the culture of an organisation, but I challenge that theory. The problem in part is a growing trend towards migrant workers undertaking jobs that no-one else want to do, the Health Service is a good example of this.
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