Today's blog post is written by Ojeaku Nwabuzo, a researcher at Runnymede

On Monday 6 August I read a twitter message from a close friend saying “riots are about to happen in Hackney”. At this point there had been two days of civil unrest in Tottenham and Brixton and I had a feeling it would eventually erupt in Hackney. Why? Well there was a pattern emerging. These were urban areas with high proportions of deprivation, unemployment and minority ethnic people that appeared to be reacting to the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of the police.

Over the next few months I worked on the Riot Roundtables project; one of the few in-depth inquires into civil unrest in England last year that asked if race was a factor in the disturbances. As part of this project we visited communities across England and overwhelmingly participants in our research said that racial injustice was an underlying cause of the disturbances in August 2011.

Many roundtable participants felt that the death of Mark Duggan, a mixed raced man, had awakened a deep and real memory of historical injustices and grievances that Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities have had with the police and the criminal justice system. Currently, we can see in America how the killing of Trayvon Martin has lead to outrage within the black community and as one commentator said his death “is finally lifting the lid on the US's racist underbelly”.

MPs today discussed how the government’s new plans for higher education could impact on Black and minority ethnic (BME) students. In a Westminster Hall debate – which directly followed the government’s response to the Browne review into university funding – a number of Labour MPs expressed concern that proposed fee increases of up to £9000 would deter BME students from attending university. In addition, some argued that if Russell Group universities decide to charge higher fees than other institutions, BME pupils may seek to attend cheaper and less prestigious universities.

The former higher education minister David Lammy MP – who arranged the debate on widening participation – expressed particular concern regarding the current lack of black students in the UK’s most prestigious universities, stating that there are more Black students at London Metropolitan University than all other Russell Group universities put together. Lammy also highlighted the shocking statistic that only one Black Caribbean student was admitted to Oxford last year. Responding to Lammy, the further education minister John Hayes MP acknowledged that this is “a cause for concern”, adding that he thinks it should be an issue the government should look into further.

Lammy also called for universities to be given tough commitments on widening access, adding that they should receive penalties if they don’t meet this commitment – particularly in light of increasing fees. 

Paul Uppal and other Conservative MPs argued that the reasons certain groups do not attend university – or, indeed, the best universities – are more than just financial ones. In particular, John Hayes highlighted improving educational attainment levels and careers advice at a school level as ways which would result in wider participation in higher education.

Runnymede will shortly be published a report on widening participation in higher education, which will be available to download for free on our website.

The School of Pharmacy, Brunel and Queen Mary’s are the three universities with the largest proportions of black and minority ethnic (BME) undergraduate students according to data released this week by the government.

The data – which was released in response to a question from shadow universities minister David Lammy – also highlights that London Universities are more likely to have bigger proportions of BME students.

The twenty universities with the largest proportion of BME students are as follows:

New MP Rushanara Ali and Labour front bencher David Lammy both raised the issues of ethnic minority employment and skills in the Commons this week.

Rushanara Ali, the recently elected Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow highlighted Bangladeshi and Somali unemployment in her constituency this week’s opposition day debate on jobs and the unemployed arguing that they face both social class barriers and ethnic penalties. Highlighting that the unemployment rate in her constituency is 11% - significantly higher than the national average – she argued that 8,500 young people in London stayed off benefits due to interventions by the previous government.

She also welcomed the government’s plans to introduce 50,000 apprenticeships, but argued that they should introduce them sooner than the planned implementation date of next spring.

In addition, the former higher education minister David Lammy asked a question regarding the achievement gap between white and ethnic minority university students last week. The skills secretary David Willetts responded by arguing that the coalition government is committed to social mobility and added that “the coalition agreement is clear that future activity in these areas needs to be judged against the findings from Lord Browne's independent review of higher education funding and student finance”.

Yesterday peers discussed whether community cohesion should be considered when granting a school academy status. The proposal - which took the form of an amendment discussed at the first day of the committee stage of the Academies Bill - was supported by Lib Dem peer Baroness Walmsley who argued that considering community cohesion in relation to academies is "vital", particularly in diverse communities.

She went on to stress that such a consideration is "crucial" given concerns that academies could increase inequality and social division, adding that they should be very much part of the local community.

Conservative education spokesperson Lord Hill of Oareford called the consideration of community cohesion in relation to academies "a worthy aim" but argued that the current funding agreement for academies already requires them to be at "the heart of the community". 

Speaking in the Second Reading debate of the Academies Bill in the House of Lords yesterday, long-term race campaigner Baroness Howells criticised the bill for not taking into account community cohesion, adding that it could trigger a “road to segregation” for black pupils.

The bill – launched in the Queen’s Speech last month - will enable more schools to become academies, primarily by giving the Secretary of State the power to issue an Academy Order requiring the local authority to cease to maintain the school.

In her speech, Labour Peer Howells outlined her concerns surround the experience of black children in the current UK education system, and highlighted the historical difficulties they have faced in UK schools since the 1960s. In particular she argued that “there is a need to consider the deep-seated cultural and social differences that characterise black children in our attempt to educate, counsel and assist them in the UK system”.

Moving onto the Academies Bill in particular, Howells questioned whether academies can achieve community cohesion standards if they are able to opt out of local authority control and suggested that such a move will “separate communities”. She concluded that she is “sure that the black community fears that the Bill”, adding that it” would set us on the road to segregation.

You can read the full debate of the Second Reading of the Academies Bill here.

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.

Education was at the top of the agenda yesterday in the House of Commons – an issue of prime importance to race equality given the different attainment levels of various ethnic groups.

In his first Prime Minister’s Question Time, David Cameron reiterated commitments made in the coalition agreement to introduce a pupil premium in schools, stating that  this will benefit the poorest children by helping them attend the best schools. Given that some BME groups are among the poorest in society this initiative is likely to have an impact on race equality, although the extent of this will not become clear until full details of premium are announced in the Education and Children’s Bill.

The new coalition government introduced a raft of new legislation in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech which promises to bring radical change to the country. Whilst the full details of the new legislation have not yet been published, below are some early thoughts on what it could mean for race equality.

Given the unequal attainment levels of different ethnic groups, the pupil premium included in the Education and Children’s Bill may have a positive impact on those BME children in lower attaining groups. However clarification will be needed on how the pupil premium will be allocated – will, for example, being a child from an ethnic group with the lowest attainment levels (such as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups, or Black Caribbean Children) result in receiving pupil premium funding? In addition, it is important that the amount allocated through the premium is enough as to act as a sufficient incentive for schools to accept them as pupils.

The slimming down of the curriculum could be a concern if citizenship classes and other multi-cultural initiatives are scrapped – however it is not yet clear whether this will be the case.

The emphasis on increasing patient choice in the Health Bill may impact some BME people differently from other groups. Previous research by Runnymede on school choice found that BME parents find it difficult to exercise choice, and therefore downgrade their options prior to selecting schools. Further research would be needed to consider whether this would be the case in heath, but it is worth considering the school choice example

Following blog posts written by Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg for the Operation Black Vote blog outlining their parties’ race equality policies, Theresa May has today highlighted how the Tories plan to help BME communities.

May – who is the party’s equalities spokesperson – argues in the post that the Conservative Party is committed tacking discrimination and promoting equality. She states that there is clear evidence that race is a “key influence” on individual achievement, highlighting the disproportionate number of black children excluded from school and the low numbers of BME students attending Oxford University.

She states that the party supported the Equality Act in parliament and adds that the Equality and Human Rights Commission will have a continuing role in protecting the rights of individuals and groups.

Higher Education Minister David Lammy MP will be speaking on black fatherhood today in an event hosted by Runnymede. A full report of the event will be posted on our site shortly, but check out some media coverage so far in the Independent and on the BBC website.

Alongside the event Lammy has made a video on the issue featuring Trevor McDonald, Rapper Tinie Tempah and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah. A preview of the video is available on youtube, with the full film available soon.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has today published the findings of an independent review that looks at the current provisions to prevent the promotion of racism in schools. While the report recommends an annual review on whether teachers belonging to racist organisations should be banned, it also finds that measures currently in place to protect pupils from racist teachers are sufficient.