| Jane Kennedy MP (Chair) |
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) |
| Fiona Mactaggart MP |
Home Office (HO) |
| Yvette Cooper |
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) |
| Leslie Manasseh |
Trades Union Congress (TUC) |
| Nahid Majid |
Ethnic Minority Stakeholder Group |
| Afsana Shukur |
DWP |
| Jonathan Portes |
DWP |
| Rachel O’Brien |
DWP |
| David Drew |
DWP |
| Anthony Johnson |
DWP |
| Heather Martin |
DWP |
| Lesley Raymond |
DWP |
| Michael Hewson |
DWP |
| Sarah Perry |
DWP |
| Stephen Martin |
National Employment Panel (NEP) |
| Nicholas Holgate |
(HMT) |
| Angela Mason |
Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) |
| Inderjit Dehal |
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) |
| Mark Carroll |
HO |
| Matthew West |
HO |
| Nassar Hameed |
ODPM |
| Sonny Taank |
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE |
| Sean Larkins |
Central Office of Information (COI) |
| Ross James |
COI |
| Annmarie Dixon-Barrow |
Fullemploy |
| Jonathan Baldrey |
At Work Recruitment |
Stephen Twigg MP Department for Education and Skills, Nigel Griffiths MP Department for Trade and Industry, Trevor Phillips Commission for Racial Equality, Janice Munday Department for Trade and Industr
Jane Kennedy MP introduced herself as the newly appointed Minister for Work and Task Force Chair, and welcomed all to the Task Force meeting. She particularly welcomed Nahid Majid, Chair of the Ethnic Minority Stakeholder Group.
The minutes were agreed as a correct record of the Task Force meeting on 24 March.
The Chair reported that bilateral meetings on the subject of procurement have begun, and that she is writing to Ministers in all Government departments to request information on existing procurement activity.
Action Point 1
It was reported that Task Force Secretariat will be preparing a draft letter on the skills agenda in due course, following discussion with DfES.
Action Points 3 & 4
These actions refer to the need to focus on communications and evaluation issues at the April Task Force meeting, and as such are cleared.
Action Points 5 & 6
Work is continuing on these actions, which refer to the evaluation work leading up to the final review.
Action Points 7 & 8
The Chair noted that these actions refer to communications issues that willbe discussed during this meeting.
Action Point 9
The Chair noted that Ministers’ Private Offices will be liaising in order to secure a date for the planned Task Force event in the autumn.
Action Point 10
CRE have yet to agree a date on which they will give a presentation to the Task Force on discrimination issues; it was agreed that this would be scheduled into the programme of future Task Force meetings following discussion with CRE officials.
The Chair welcomed Sean Larkin and Ross James of the Central Office of Information (COI), who gave a presentation outlining the high-level objectives of the Task Force Communications Strategy.
Ministers agreed the following objectives of the communications strategy:
Ministers agreed the papers setting out the range of communications activity, together with the communications action plan but asked for further clarification on the proposal that they should undertake a series of visits to ethnic minority initiatives in the autumn.
It was agreed that officials should provide further clarification on the likely cost for the production of the first annual report, and the associated Task Force ‘One Year On’ event in the autumn (Action Point 2).
Rachel O’Brien, EMED DWP, gave a presentation focusing on the first of a series of quarterly statistical updates. The purpose of the updates is to monitor progress and measure change as part of the review of the work of the Task Force.
The Task Force welcomed the update, and asked for further statistical information on different ethnic groups, in particular Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups (Action Point 3).
The Chair thanked officials for producing updates of progress against the SU recommendations, and noted that these provide overviews of progress and set out key achievements and important areas of slippage.
The Chair welcomed David Drew and Anthony Johnson, EMED DWP, who gave a presentation introducing their paper on Task Force review and evaluation. The Task Force agreed to defer a final decision on the paper. A further discussion would take place at the Ministerial Meeting in June.
The Chair welcomed Annmarie Dixon-Barrow, of Fullemploy, and Jonathan Baldrey, of At Work Recruitment.
Annmarie Dixon-Barrow gave a brief presentation outlining the work of Fullemploy, which develops programmes to create employment opportunities for people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Jonathan Baldrey outlined the work of At Work Recruitment, which is a recruitment agency with a high level of success in placing people from ethnic minority backgrounds into work.
Both presentations welcomed the work of the Task Force, and indicated a willingness on the part of the organisations to support the work of the Stakeholder Group.
No items were discussed.
It was agreed that the Task Force meeting scheduled for the 25 May should be cancelled, but that the meeting scheduled for 29 June should proceed.
Ministers agreed that it would be helpful to move to a programme of less frequent meetings, focusing on themes of the strategy.
| No. | Action |
Responsible |
Deadline |
Status |
| 1 |
Provide further information on costs for the first annual report, including the ‘One Year On’ event. | EMED | For Task Force meeting 29 June | Cleared |
| 2 |
Officials to meet in order to develop Ministers’ schedules of visits to ethnic minority organisations etc., including feasibility of regional focus to Ministers. | EMED, with officials from TF departments | 29 June | Cleared |
| 3 |
Annual progress reports should reflect all being undertaken across Government likely to have an impact on the employment gap. | EMED | First draft of first annual progress report due September 2004 | |
| 3 |
Provide further statistical information on different ethnic groups in particular Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups. | EMED | October Task Force meeting | Cleared |
| 4 |
Provide update on procurement issues. | EMED | June 29 | Cleared |