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Home - News - PCC Julia Mulligan responds to government audit on race equality

11 October, 2017

PCC Julia Mulligan responds to government audit on race equality

The Government has published a report that highlights inequalities across public sector organisations. The Prime Minister announced the Race Disparity Audit in August 2016 with a view to shining a light on how people of different ethnicities are treated in areas including health, education, employment, crime and policing, and the criminal justice system.

North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, said: “I am concerned about the findings of the audit, especially with regard to policing and crime. It is clear more needs to be done nationally and in North Yorkshire.

“The police here were singled out over a year ago for their lack of diversity and I remain concerned that not enough progress has been made, despite the current recruitment into the force and genuine efforts to address the problem. As a consequence, I will be asking the police to look again at their recruitment plans.

“In addition, I’ve also heard firsthand from communities in our county that having a more representative workforce is key to improving understanding and relationships between the police and the public. Whilst I don’t doubt the police’s sincerity for a moment, I do question whether or not sufficient progress has been made.”

The report found that, nationally:

  • There are lower levels of confidence in the police among Black people, and especially among younger Black adults. While there has been a very large reduction in the use of Stop and Search among Black people since 2008/09, the use of these powers remains far higher on this ethnic group than others. Black men are also almost three and a half times more likely to be arrested than White men.
  • Some parts of the public sector workforce are more ethnically diverse than others. For example, the vast majority of police officers are from the White group and this has not changed over the past decade. The volunteer, part-time Special Constabulary was the most ethnically diverse part of the police workforce, followed by Police Community Support Officers.
  • The risk of being a victim of crime was highest for people from Mixed, Black and Asian adult populations; in 2015/16 around 1 in 5 adults in the Mixed group were the victim of a crime in the previous 12 months compared with around 1 in 7 White adults.

For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/race-disparity-audit