Theresa May launches race audit of public services

Prime Minister Theresa May has ordered a review into how ethnic minorities and white working class people are treated by public services such as the NHS, schools, police and the courts.

The audit is aimed at highlighting racial and socio-economic disparities and showing how outcomes differ due to background, class, gender and income.

The prime minister said the findings would "shine a light on injustices".

A recent report found racial inequality remained "entrenched" in Britain.

Black graduates earn on average 23% less than white ones and are far more likely to be unemployed, the Equality and Human Rights Commission concluded.

Entering Downing Street for the first time as prime minister last month, Mrs May acknowledged not everyone was treated equally in society and there were too many cases of "burning injustices" arising from people's race and background.

Transparency

In her first announcement since returning from her summer holiday, Mrs May has ordered government departments to identify and publish details of the varying experiences and outcomes of different groups when using public services.

The information, which will be published within a year and updated annually after that, will cover health, education, employment, welfare, skills and criminal justice.Downing Street said the audit would be unprecedented in its scope and transparency, enabling the public to hold public services to account and force improvements.

Announcing the review - to be conducted by a new unit within the Cabinet Office - No 10 said it was unacceptable that black women were still seven times more likely to be detained under mental health laws than white women, and that the employment rate for ethnic minorities lagged the overall national rate by 10 percentage points.

'Difficult truths'

The evaluation will also look into the disadvantages experienced by white working class boys in the school and university system as well as inequalities linked to geographical location, such as inner cities and coastal towns.

"The government I lead will stand up for you and your family against injustice and inequality," Mrs May said. "This audit will reveal difficult truths but we should not be apologetic about shining a light on injustices as never before. It is only by doing so we can make this country work for everyone not just a privileged few."

As home secretary, Mrs May clamped down on police stop-and-search policies in black communities following the publication of Home Office datashowing that people from black and other ethnic minority groups were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than their white counterparts.

Labour has said the new PM should be judged on her actions not her rhetoric, arguing that lower-income groups have suffered disproportionately from cuts to benefits over the past six years of Tory rule, as well changes to the tax system and the scrapping of grants such as the education maintenance allowance.

Both Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have put reducing inequality at the heart of their leadership campaigns, with Mr Corbyn calling for all but the smallest firms to carry out equality pay audits and his challenger calling for the party to refocus its approach on promoting equality of outcomes not opportunities.