The official launch of a survey carried out by the Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership, 'Assessing the Needs of Black and Minority Ethnic Residents of Ayrshire', took place in the John Pollock Centre in Ayr, on Thursday 29th September 2005.

South Ayrshire Council has a legal duty to promote race equality, as detailed within the Race Relations Act that requires all councils and other public bodies to actively promote race equality. Within the Council's geographical area only 0.68% of the total population is from an ethnic minority group, compared to the Scottish national average of 2.11%.

In order to meets its commitments under the Race Relations Act South Ayrshire Council has formed a partnership with East and North Ayrshire councils, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Strathclyde Police and the Procurator Fiscal service to examine the best ways to promote race equality across Ayrshire. Collectively the partners are known as the Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership, and aim to address the needs and issues facing ethnic minority communities across Ayrshire.

The launch was attended by representatives from all the partner organisations, and delegates from a range of ethnic backgrounds. Guest speakers were Linda Semple, Assistant Director of Strategic Planning and Performance, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Chris Oswald, Senior Policy Officer at the Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland and Yvonne Strachan, Head of the Equality Unit at the Scottish Government.

Chairman of the South Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership, and the Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Andy Hill welcomed those who attended the launch and said: "I welcome the launch of this report, as it provides vital information that can help partner organisations promote race equality across Ayrshire.

"In South Ayrshire there is a small black and minority ethnic population compared to Scotland's cities, but that is no excuse for inactivity.

"All providers of public services must be sensitive to the needs of all communities and deploy resources to meet those needs as effectively as possible."

The survey highlighted a number of issues such as:

• Members of the Chinese community identified the need for interpreters and the provision of information in minority languages, particularly Cantonese.
• Respondents from the Muslim community identified culturally appropriate facilities, such as single sex swimming and gyms and access to community centres and grants to support religious events as important.
• In terms of community safety, the main concerns were about young people hanging around neighbourhoods and the misuse of drugs and alcohol.
• The challenges facing the Councils, NHS and other public services in communicating and engaging with small and dispersed communities. In order to fulfil our duty to promote race equality the Council needs to ensure that it can communicate with all groups within the population and understand their needs.

A range of workshops were held to further explore the issues being addressed by the survey, these included:

• What does this groundbreaking research tell us about the needs and experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic communities in Ayrshire?
• What can we learn about the most effective methods of engaging with small and dispersed Black and Minority Ethnic communities?
• How can areas with small Black and Minority Ethnic populations drive forward the race equality agenda?
• What are the implications for public authorities that are developing and implementing race equality schemes?

Download details of the Scheme

The Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership Survey Report (740KB)
Summary of The Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership Survey Report (150KB)
Summary of the AREP Survey Report in Urdu (361KB)
Summary of the AREP Survey in Cantonese (191KB)
Summary of the AREP Survey in Punjabi (122KB)
Update - October 2005 (62KB)

For more information on the Ayrshire Racial Equality Partnership please contact Adrian Shaw at South Ayrshire Council; telephone 01292 612134 or e-mail adrian.shaw@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

Pictured at the official launch are representatives of the Ayrshire Race Equality Partnership and the guest speakers.

October 2005