Covid: Wales' pubs and restaurants could reopen indoors in May - BBC News

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Pubs and restaurants in Wales could reopen indoors in time for the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May.

The Welsh government also said two households could meet indoors from 10 May, if Covid cases remained low.

The government has given more detailed plans for the easing of lockdown restrictions in the coming weeks after earlier saying hospitality could reopen outdoors from 26 April.

From 3 May, wedding receptions with up to 30 people can take place outdoors.

Gyms, leisure centres and fitness facilities will also be able to reopen from 10 May. This will include individual or one-to-one training, but not exercise classes.

Both the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said gyms should be allowed to reopen immediately.

Spring Bank Holiday Monday is 31 May, but the Welsh government has not specified a date for reopening hospitality indoors.

It said after 17 May it would "consider enabling indoor hospitality and remaining visitor accommodation to reopen in advance of the Spring Bank Holiday".

What lockdown restrictions are easing and when?

Provided cases remain low, the following things will be permitted:

Monday, 26 April

• Outdoor hospitality, including cafes, pubs and restaurants
• Outdoor attractions, including funfairs and theme parks

Monday, 3 May

• Organised outdoor activities for up to 30 people
• Outdoor weddings receptions attended by no more than 30 people

Monday, 10 May

• People will be allowed to form extended households again, allowing two households to meet and have contact indoors
• Gyms, leisure centres and fitness facilities can reopen. Individual and one-to-one training will be allowed, but not exercise classes

Monday, 17 May

• Children's indoor activities
• Community centres
• Organised indoor activities for adults, limited to a maximum of 15 people. This includes exercise classes

How have businesses been coping?

Cactws

Mathew Pemberthy, 29, the owner of Cactws, a men's clothing and lifestyle shop in Aberystwyth, said he understood the Welsh government's decision to go into the latest lockdown in December, but the timing of it - days before Christmas - "pretty much crushed us".

"Those three days before Christmas are our busiest days of the whole year. We make more in those three days than we do in two weeks at other times of year. It was an absolute killer, heartbreaking," he said.

He has since diversified and now also sells home goods because people are spending more on their homes than they are on fashion because of lockdown.

Mr Pemberthy said the next 12 to 18 months were "critical" for many high street businesses, adding: "Things were slowing down before Covid hit, so if we don't see a pick up, it's going to be easier to call it a day really."

Kelly John

While hairdressers were able to reopen on 15 March, beauticians providing services which require them to be closer to their customers have not.

Kelly John, owner of KMW Beauty in Maesteg, Bridgend county, said she has not paid herself a wage since January to ensure she had enough money in her business account to buy supplies when she was allowed to reopen.

"Luckily my husband is working, otherwise I wouldn't have a house," the mother-of-two said.

"But being an independent woman, it is really hard. I can't do anything - it's Easter this weekend and I haven't bought anything."

She said she thought it was unfair hairdressers could open, but not beauty salons, even if they could only offer limited treatments.

"I don't see the difference. We would have been happy without doing facials, but we weren't given the option."

Kelly John

Shauna Guinn, co-owner of the Hang Fire restaurant in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, said being closed was costing the business £9,000 a month.

The restaurant has been closed since 4 December and she said when outdoor hospitality was allowed to reopen after the first lockdown, it was not "financially viable" for Hang Fire to reopen its "small" outdoor space.

"But this time around we'll take what we can get - my staff are desperate to get back to work."

She added that it felt "a little bit unfair when - for example - I'm booked to headline the live fire demo stage at a very large festival in Kent in the last week of June, but I don't know when I can sell a pulled pork sandwich outside my own restaurant".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his plan would be "cautious but irreversible" and that decisions would be led by "data not dates".

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In a statement titled Moving Wales into Alert Level 3, First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "The sacrifices we have all made are having a positive effect in the battle against coronavirus.

"This last year has been incredibly difficult for all of us and again I want to thank everyone for their efforts.

"These efforts have allowed us to gradually ease the restrictions, to gradually introduce more elements of normal life.

"With the weather improving, with more opportunities to see family and friends, there are reasons for optimism. However, we can't let our guard down yet. We all still need to be vigilant, we still need to do our part to keep this deadly disease at bay."

• What can I do now... and what comes next?
• Q&A: What are Wales' lockdown rules?

While parts of Wales' lockdown have eased quicker than elsewhere in the UK, the Welsh government had been reluctant to set out a full list of when different sectors will reopen.

Mr Drakeford was critical of the UK government for aiming to end all rules on social contact by 21 June at the earliest - saying that was very optimistic.

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The announcement comes as latest figures show admissions to hospitals of confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases have hit a record low - it stood at a daily seven-day average of 21 on Tuesday.

Seventeen confirmed and suspected Covid patients were admitted across Wales, with none at all in Cwm Taf Morgannwg hospitals for two days running.

Covid admissions now make up 2% of all hospital admissions.

• What are the stats in my area?
• The road out of the Welsh lockdown - key data to watch for

Wales' case rate stands at 36.8 per 100,000 people over seven days, compared with 40.6 a week ago.

The country has been below the 5% recommended threshold on the number of tests coming back positive for 26 days.

What has been the political reaction?

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said: "The Labour government must explain why it has taken them so long to provide businesses with greater certainty on when they can expect to reopen.

"Having been closed for so long, the least they deserve is more time to prepare."

The Welsh Conservatives' Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said: "Whilst we welcome the restart of non-essential retail, it's regrettable Labour have not seen fit to give the green light to the safe reopening of gyms given two months ago ministers claimed it was a priority, and considering the huge toll lockdown has had on the physical and mental well-being of thousands of Welsh people.

"With the progress we've made on case rates and vaccination, we also believe consideration should've been given to the reopening of outdoor hospitality in Wales."

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds said: "Now that more and more of Wales is opening up and life is slowly returning to normal, it's time to put our recovery first.

"I want to see support for those individuals who will lose their jobs when furlough ends, those who are likely to lose their homes when the ban on evictions is lifted and those whose mental health has suffered as a result of this pandemic."

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2021-03-31 18:53:01Z
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The Data Dive: What does the race report say? - Sky News

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2021-03-31 19:52:48Z
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Covid: Wales' pubs and restaurants set for 26 April outdoor reopening - BBC News

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Pubs and restaurants in Wales will be able to reopen outdoors from 26 April, providing Covid rates remain low.

Travel between Wales and the rest of the UK and Ireland will be allowed from 12 April.

First Minister Mark Drakeford will announce his latest moves to ease lockdown on Thursday.

It was also confirmed non-essential retail, as well as close-contact services such as beauty parlours, can reopen from 12 April.

Outdoor attractions are also set to reopen on 26 April and ministers could also allow gyms and leisure centres to open for individual training "by early May", alongside organised outdoor activities for up to 30 people.

• What can I do now... and what comes next?
• Q&A: What are Wales' lockdown rules?

Mr Drakeford will set out a "series of measures" to take Wales into alert level three by 17 May, "subject to public health conditions remaining favourable".

Pubs, bars and restaurants have been pleading with ministers to give them dates so they can prepare to reopen.

While parts of Wales' lockdown have eased quicker than elsewhere in the UK, the Welsh government has been reluctant to set out a full list of when different sectors will reopen.

It has been critical of the UK government for aiming to end all rules on social contact by 21 June at the earliest.

The news comes as latest figures show admissions to hospitals of confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases have hit a record low - it stood at a daily seven-day average of 21 on Tuesday.

Seventeen confirmed and suspected Covid patients were admitted across Wales, with none at all in Cwm Taf Morgannwg hospitals for two days running.

Covid admissions now make up 2% of all hospital admissions.

• What are the stats in my area?

Wales' case rate stands at 36.8 per 100,000 people over seven days, compared with 40.6 a week ago.

The country has been below the 5% recommended threshold on the number of tests coming back positive for 26 days.

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2021-03-31 17:59:38Z
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Campaigners criticise 'deeply cynical' race report - BBC News

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A government-commissioned report which found that the UK "no longer" had a system rigged against people from ethnic minorities, has been described as "deeply cynical".

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on how people's lives turned out.

But unions have said it ignores black and ethnic minority people's concerns.

While Labour has accused the government of downplaying institutional racism.

The commission was set up after Black Lives Matter (BLM) anti-racism protests across the country last summer - triggered by the killing of George Floyd in the US.

But the report has been criticised by campaigners and unions, with the GMB's national officer Rehana Azam saying it "feels like a deeply cynical report".

She said it was "completely irresponsible and immoral" and ignored black and ethnic minority workers' concerns.

Boris Johnson said the government would consider the implications of the report's recommendations for future policy and remained "fully committed to building a fairer Britain".

• Race report risks deepening distrust and division
• Key points: What does the race report say?
• The black British history you may not know about
• Six reports in four years but what action has been taken?

The commission's 258-page report concluded that the UK is not yet a "post-racial country" - but its success in removing race-based disparity in education and, to a lesser extent, the economy, "should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries".

In his foreword to the report chairman Tony Sewell, an education consultant and ex-charity boss, said while the "impediments and disparities do exist", it continued, they were "varied and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism".

Black Lives Matter UK tweeted that it was "disappointed" that the report overlooked disproportionality in the criminal justice system.

Black people in England and Wales are nine times more likely to be imprisoned than their white peers, it said.

The report thanked the "mainly young people" behind the BLM movement for putting the focus on race but said progress could not be achieved by "cleaving to a fatalistic account that insists nothing has changed".

Among the main findings of the report were:

• Children from minority ethnic communities did as well or better than white pupils in compulsory education, with black Caribbean pupils the only group to perform less well
• This success in education has "transformed British society over the last 50 years into one offering far greater opportunities for all"
• The pay gap between all ethnic minorities and the white majority population had shrunk to 2.3% overall and was barely significant for employees under 30
• Diversity has increased in professions such as law and medicine
• But some communities continue to be "haunted" by historic racism, which is creating "deep mistrust" and could be a barrier to success

Labour's shadow women and equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova labelled the report a "divisive polemic" that downplayed institutional racism.

Her colleague David Lammy, who led a review on racial bias in the justice system, tweeted that Britain's black community was being "gaslighted" and said he was "tired of the endless debate about whether structural racism exists with little desire to actually address it".

Institutional racism was defined in the Macpherson report, commissioned after Stephen Lawrence's murder, as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide the appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".

When setting up the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities during the Black Lives Matter protests last summer, Boris Johnson said he wanted to "change the narrative, so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination".

But reaching a settled view on the question of racism in the UK was always going to be a struggle.

Critics were concerned by the prime minister's assertion that he wanted "to look very carefully at the real racism and discrimination that people face".

There was further unease among anti-racism groups at the reported involvement of Number 10 policy advisor Munira Mirza, because she had previously written of how institutional racism was "a perception more than a reality".

The appointment of Tony Sewell to lead the inquiry once again disappointed anti-racism activists.

One London-based organisation, Monitoring Group, considered seeking a judicial review to prevent his selection on the grounds that he had "a longstanding record of public statements rejecting or minimising" the impact of institutional racism in Britain.

The accusation that this report is the result of a hand-picked committee, designed to say what ministers wanted to hear, will have some traction, whatever the commission and the government insist about its independence.

Read more from Mark here.

The commission said unemployment differences between ethnic groups had declined and the pay gap between ethnic minority workers and white workers was also falling and at its lowest level for almost a decade.

But TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said "institutional and structural racism exists in the UK, in both the labour market and wider society", and said black and minority ethnic workers were far more likely "to be in low-paid, insecure jobs" compared to white workers.

Prof Kehinde Andrews, a professor of black studies at Birmingham City University told BBC news the report was "not a genuine attempt to understand racism in Britain" or "make a substantive change".

He said the fact there was a discussion over whether institutional racism existed was the problem, "because it does exist, it clearly exists and the question should be 'how do we address this'".

Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman Wera Hobhouse said the report must not be used as an excuse to continue "shameful inaction" on issues of racial injustice.

She called for an end to "hostile environment" immigration policies and the "disproportionate" use of police stop and search tactics.

The commission found not enough information was given to the public about why police used stop and search, saying the focus was on drugs rather than knife offences.

In its recommendations, the commission also called for the term BAME, which stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, to be dropped, calling it "unhelpful" and "imprecise and often misleading".

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a member of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, said the report was not denying institutional racism existed but said the commission had not discovered evidence of it in the areas it had looked.

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said she "warmly welcomed" the report and was impressed by the analysis within the report, but added she was "looking forward to understanding fully" the issues that had been raised and "what can be done" to address them.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said progress had been made to tackle racism. "That's not to say there aren't instances of racism that of course exist in this country," he told ITV.

"But if I think about the things that happened to me when I was a kid, I can't imagine those things happening to me now."

The report's 24 recommendations included:

• Extended school days to be phased in, starting with disadvantaged areas, to help pupils catch up on missed learning during the pandemic
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds should have access to better quality careers advice in schools, funded by university outreach programmes
• More research is needed to examine why pupils perform well in certain communities, so this can be replicated to help all children succeed
• Organisations should stop funding unconscious bias training, with government and experts developing resources to help advance workplace equality

• SLEEP AND COVID: How do stressful situations affect our dreams?
• GRENFELL ATHLETIC: Healing the community after tragedy

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2021-03-31 16:17:01Z
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COVID-19: UK records 43 more coronavirus deaths and 4,052 new cases as vaccine first doses hit 30.9m - Sky News

The UK has recorded another 43 coronavirus-related deaths and 4,052 new cases in the latest 24-hour period.

This compares with 56 fatalities and 4,040 infections announced yesterday.

Last Wednesday, 98 deaths were announced in the UK along with 5,605 cases.

A total of 126,713 people have now died in the UK within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, and there have been 4,345,788 lab-confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, 224,590 people had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine yesterday, taking the total to 30,905,538.

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Some 270,526 had their second dose yesterday, meaning 4,108,536 have now had both shots.

It comes as European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke said there is "no evidence" to support restricting the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in any population.

More from Covid-19

Yesterday, Germany announced it will suspend using the jab in the under-60s over concerns about rare blood clots.

However, the UK is "100% confident in the efficacy" of the vaccine, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News.

He said: "It is a safe vaccine and the UK's vaccine rollout is saving people's lives right across the country every day."

Mr Jenrick said the jab's effectiveness was "borne out by study after study".

The EU medicines regulator - the EMA - and the World Health Organisation have both insisted the vaccine is safe and effective.

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2021-03-31 15:13:18Z
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UK report denies systemic racism, prompting angry backlash - Al Jazeera English

London, United Kingdom – A government-commissioned review into racism has concluded the United Kingdom is not an institutionally racist country, prompting a backlash from critics who described the findings as an “utter whitewash”.

In an anticipated report published on Wednesday, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said the UK was not yet a “post-racial country” but should be regarded as a “model for other white-majority countries”, citing achievements towards equality in the sectors of education and economy.

While the report acknowledged “overt and outright” racism persisted and said some communities were “haunted” by historic discrimination, it downplayed the importance of systemic racism in explaining inequalities in areas such as health and crime.

The UK, it said, was no longer a country where the system is “deliberately rigged” against ethnic minorities.

“Impediments and disparities do exist, they are varied, and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism,” the 258-page report said. “The evidence shows that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion have more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism.”

But opposition politicians and campaigners were quick to dismiss the commission’s conclusions.

Halima Begum, director of the UK’s Runnymede Trust race equality think-tank, said the report had been “written to a script” defined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government, as she labelled it an “utter whitewash”.

“In it, the government cannot even bring itself to acknowledge or show any empathy for the incidence of racism in the UK,” Begum told Al Jazeera.

“Frankly, by denying the evidence of institutional racism … I think they’ve insulted every ethnic minority in this country – the very people who continue to experience racism on a daily basis.”

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR), another UK-based think-tank, said in a statement: “We can see no attempt here to address the common ethnic minority experience of structural racism within areas such as the criminal justice system.”

The report’s findings, the IRR said, “fit neatly with the government’s attempts, post-Brexit, to portray the British nation as a beacon of good race relations and a diversity model”.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was set up by Johnson after anti-racism protests swept the UK last summer following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

It had been due to publish its report last year. The delay was blamed on COVID-19 restrictions and the high number of responses from the public.

A spokesperson for Black Lives Matter UK told Al Jazeera the commission’s conclusions highlighted a bleak reality that Black Britons’ voices are still not heard.

“We didn’t need another report. We needed to start looking at implementing impactful and lasting change,” the spokesperson said, adding the criminal justice system and policing methods – including controversial stop-and-search procedures, needed reform.

“We need action,” they said.

Recommendations to ‘remove obstacles for everyone’

The report said children from ethnic minority communities often performed as well as, or better than, white pupils.

Students of Black Caribbean heritage were the only group to register lower attainment levels, it said.

As evidence of an “improving picture” at workplaces, it cited increased diversity in professions such as medicine and law and a shrinking race pay gap overall, which stood at 2.3 percent.

“The well-meaning idealism of many young people who claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence,” the report said.

“The country has come a long way in 50 years and the success of much of the ethnic minority population in education and, to a lesser extent, the economy, should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries.”

In light of its findings, the commission made 24 recommendations “designed to remove obstacles for everyone, rather than specific groups”.

One suggestion was to end the use of the BAME acronym, meaning Black, Asian and minority ethnic, which it called “unhelpful”.

Another idea was to establish an office for health disparities aimed at reducing inequalities, and a third example focused on encouraging companies to move away from unconscious bias training in favour of seemingly vague new interventions to “advance fairness in the workplace”.

But opposition Labour Party MP and shadow secretary of state for justice David Lammy said the government had missed an opportunity to address an “overwhelming desire for change” after Floyd’s killing.

The report, he said, could have been a “turning point and a moment to come together” but instead had divided the UK once more.

“British people – Black and white – are crying out to turn the page on racism,” Lammy tweeted. “With this report, Boris Johnson is standing in their way.”

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2021-03-31 13:38:53Z
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Sarah Everard vigil: Critics attacked policing 'without knowing facts' - Met chief - BBC News

Reuters

Critics of the police handling of a Sarah Everard vigil in south London spoke out "without knowing the facts", the Met Police chief has said.

Dame Cressida Dick told the BBC that remarks during a "social media pile-on" had damaged confidence in policing.

The force was criticised after women were handcuffed and removed from crowds on Clapham Common, but a report has said police acted "appropriately".

The Duchess of Cambridge's visit to the vigil was legal, Dame Cressida added.

Ms Everard was last seen walking home nearby on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent - prompting a public debate over women's safety

Several hundred people gathered on Clapham Common on 13 March to pay tribute to the 33-year-old, despite Covid restrictions.

• Police 'acted appropriately' at Sarah Everard vigil
• Met Police chief will not resign over vigil scenes
• How a woman's death sparked UK soul-searching

Dame Cressida said it was "clearly possible" under the law for those who lived locally to walk to the common and "lay flowers legally".

"You would have seen for six hours we did not enforce any laws, we showed some discretion and we allowed people to carry on," she said.

Reuters

But the Met chief said she had warned City Hall and senior members of the government the event was likely to become an illegal mass gathering and could end with arrests.

"What I was saying consistently was this is likely to be illegal, if it is illegal and people do not disperse when they're asked to do so, we will use as much discretion as we can, we will encourage people, we will try to get them to disperse, but if they don't disperse we will end up arresting people," she said.

An official event had been planned by Reclaim These Streets - but the group called it off, saying police had failed to "constructively engage" on how it could be held in a Covid-secure way.

People turned up to Clapham Common despite the group asking them not to.

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Referring to the Duchess of Cambridge's visit to the vigil, the Met chief said she was "in the course of her duties, she was working."

She added: "At that point people had a whole series of potential reasonable excuses for being away from home, we didn't all have them.

"I've picked out one that may apply to her but, let's be clear, there was a very calm vigil to which she attended where lots of people came."

When challenged on her previous remarks that she would have attended the vigil if it had been legal, Dame Cressida said: "What we knew is that it was quite clear that what ever the organisers wanted to arrange, the numbers were going to be overwhelming, there was not an ability, in the long run, to be able to keep this socially distanced... Covid safe or strictly legal."

The duchess's visit was not listed in the daily list of royal engagements - the Court Circular - so it was not an official engagement. Palace sources at the time said it was a private visit, which can constitute a royal duty, but it would still usually be listed in the Court Circular.

'Insufficient communication'

On Tuesday, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that the force was "justified" in deciding that the risks of transmitting coronavirus "were too great to ignore" and officers "did their best to peacefully disperse the crowd".

However, it added that "there was insufficient communication between police commanders about changing events on the ground".

Images and footage from the vigil prompted widespread concern, but HMICFRS said calls for Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign - including from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey - were "unwarranted".

The report added that "the chorus of those condemning" the force after the event showed "a distinct lack of respect for public servants facing... a sensitive and complex situation".

A spokesman for the Lib Dems has said: "We stand by our view that in the circumstances, the Met commissioner got the judgment on the vigil badly wrong."

'Stop and think'

Dame Cressida said: "I think there are two things that come out of this report about the immediate aftermath.

"The first is that people in public life, people in responsible positions, should stop and think before they judge, whoever they may be."

She added: "If they comment without knowing the facts, they may - and I would suggest on this occasion some people did - affect public confidence in their police service inappropriately.

"And, secondly, affect the officers' confidence about volunteering for the same duty in the next instance, if they are actually going to be criticised even when they've done a really good job."

Dame Cressida said the report suggested that if the force had been "slightly more conciliatory" in communications afterwards, "then that might have helped with what I think is, in modern-day parlance, a kind of social media pile-on".

An inquest into Ms Everard's death has been adjourned until the conclusion of criminal proceedings.

PC Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with her murder and kidnap.

He has been remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 9 July ahead of a trial that is set to start on 25 October.

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2021-03-31 14:46:03Z
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Students stage sit-in protest at London school over 'racist' uniform policy - Guardian News

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2021-03-31 12:29:19Z
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Watch live: Latest COVID-19 data from UK and around the world - Sky News

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2021-03-31 11:59:39Z
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UK no longer country 'where system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities', according to government-ordered race review - Sky News

The UK is no longer a country "where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities", a government-ordered review has argued.

The Independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities - which was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson following last summer's Black Lives Matter protests - has published its 258-page report on inequality in Britain.

It explored ethnic and race disparities within education, employment, the criminal justice system and health.

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Race review: 'There's a lot of work ahead'

Mr Johnson described its report was an "important piece of work", adding: "It is now right that the government considers their recommendations in detail, and assesses the implications for future government policy.

"The entirety of government remains fully committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist."

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In its report, the commission said the UK "should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries" although it cannot be considered "a post racial society".

"Overt and outright racism persists in the UK", particularly online, the report found, adding that it remained a "real force" and should be taken "seriously".

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But it also said: "Too often 'racism' is the catch-all explanation, and can be simply implicitly accepted rather than explicitly examined.

"The evidence shows that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion have more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism."

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'History must be acknowledged to make progress'

The report argues there is an "increasingly strident form of anti-racism thinking that seeks to explain all minority disadvantage through the prism of White discrimination", which diverts attention away from other factors behind disparities of outcome.

It criticised what it said was the "confusing" way the term "institutional racism" has been applied, arguing it should only be used when there is proven deep-seated, systemic racism present and not as a "catch-all" term for any microaggression.

The report makes a total of 24 recommendations to the government in order to give a "further burst of momentum" in the UK's progress towards becoming a "successful multicultural community", including:

• The phasing in of extended school days, starting with disadvantaged areas, as part of a "bold intervention" into education following the impact of the COVID pandemic on pupils
• Access to better quality careers advice in schools for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, funded by university outreach programmes
• The commissioning of further research into the drivers in "high performing pupils' communities" to see what can be replicated to support all children to succeed
• For organisations "to move away from funding unconscious bias training" and the government "to work with a panel of academics and practitioners to develop resources and evidence-based approaches of what does work to advance fairness in the workplace"
• Ditching the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) acronym

One of its major conclusions is that issues around race and racism are becoming less important and, in some cases, are not a significant factor in explaining disparities.

It found that children from many ethnic communities do at least as well or substantially better than white pupils in education.

This high achievement for children from certain ethnic communities is creating fairer and more diverse workplaces, the commission added.

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Keir Starmer disappointed by race report

Its report said some communities continue to be "haunted" by "historic cases" of racism, creating "deep mistrust" in the system which could prove a barrier to success.

But the commission claimed that there was a "reluctance to acknowledge that the UK had become open and fairer" from some groups.

It was also suggested that the well-meaning "idealism" of many young people who claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence.

The report acknowledged that the Black Lives Matter demonstrations had focused attention on race, but said progress could not be achieved by "cleaving to a fatalistic account that insists nothing has changed".

It added: "We also have to ask whether a narrative that claims nothing has changed for the better, and that the dominant feature of our society is institutional racism and white privilege, will achieve anything beyond alienating the decent centre ground - a centre ground which is occupied by people of all races and ethnicities.

"We therefore cannot accept the accusatory tone of much of the current rhetoric on race, and the pessimism about what has been and what more can be achieved."

According to the commission, using phrases like "white privilege" and "white fragility" are "counterproductive and divisive" and "fails to identify the real causes for disparities".

Addressing calls for the curriculum in British schools to be "decolonised", the commission said "neither the banning of White authors or token expressions of Black achievement will help to broaden young minds".

"We have argued against bringing down statues, instead, we want all children to reclaim their British heritage. We want to create a teaching resource that looks at the influence of the UK, particularly during the Empire period."

It added: "There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain."

Labour's shadow women and equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova highlighted this particular passage on her Twitter account, writing: "Putting a positive spin on slavery and empire. Published on a government website in 2021.

"Is this for real?"

Speaking before the full report was released, party leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was "disappointed" with the contents that had been pre-briefed.

He said there had been "report after report" on the issue and it was time to tackle the UK's structural problems.

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2021-03-31 11:10:18Z
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