Today's blog post is written by Runnymede's policy and research analyst, Klara Schmitz

Runnymede is part of UK NGOs Against Racism, a group of race equality organisations which are taking their concerns about the government's inaction on race equality to the United Nations.

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the blog, meaning that older posts have disappeared from the front of the blog home page.

To access posts written in 2010, please select by theme from the tag cloud opposite. Older posts should be available in chronological order shortly. I will not be posting new material until the problem is identified and fixed.

Westminster became a hotbed of discussion on race and equality issues throughout yesterday’s parliamentary debates.

In an exchange about knife crime and police bureaucracy, police and criminal Justice minister, Nick Herbert said that the coalition government is dedicated to reducing ’time wasting bureaucracy’ and will make hospitals share non-confidential information with the police so that they can target stop-and-search in gun and knife crime hot spots.

This could have a significant impact on race equality, as ethnic minorities are often the target of stop and search investigations. However, it has not yet been made clear as to what ‘bureaucracy’ will be scrapped.

See our latest report Ethnic Profiling: The Use of ‘Race’ in UK Law Enforcement for more on the effects stop and search has on the black and minority ethnic (BME) community.