{"id":67150,"date":"2016-02-01T17:26:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=ea96af143200f3dd211f261e71f5d8f5"},"modified":"2016-02-01T17:26:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:26:03","slug":"speech-watch-out-universities-im-bringing-the-fight-for-equality-in-britain-to-you-article-by-david-cameron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=67150","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Watch out, universities; I’m bringing the fight for equality in Britain to you: article by David Cameron"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When you look at Britain today, it is much harder to see the open discrimination and blatant racism of decades gone by. Instead there is a grown-up country that, despite our challenges, is largely at ease with the diversity of our open society. We also know what we are trying to achieve. Not a process of total assimilation, where people lose their whole identity. Nor is it \u2018separate development\u2019 where we encourage \u2014 or even tolerate \u2014 communities living apart. But instead, we are in the process of building a common home together, where our shared British values should help us to live side by side. And we aim for a land where at last, everyone \u2014 no matter their gender, race, background or sexuality \u2014 can be accepted for who they are and expect to be treated with true equality.<\/p>\n

But when you look more under the surface, it\u2019s clear that we\u2019ve still got some distance to travel to achieve the \u2018one nation\u2019 ideal. Consider this: if you\u2019re a young black man, you\u2019re more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university. Only 1 in 10 of the poorest white boys go into higher education at all. There are no black generals in our armed forces and just 4% of chief executives in the FTSE 100 are from ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n

What does this say about modern Britain? Are these just the symptoms of class divisions or a lack of equal opportunity? Or is it something worse \u2014 something more ingrained, institutional and insidious? We\u2019ve come a long way \u2014 including in my own party. When I became an MP in 2001, I barely had a single colleague from an ethnic minority background. Today our MPs include the sons, daughters and grandchildren of Ghanaians, east African Indians, Iranian dissidents, Pakistanis and Indians. But there is much more to do, and these examples I mention should shame our country and jolt us into action.<\/p>\n

So what are we going to do? First, we\u2019ve got to extend life chances. Last month I spoke about the subtle social inequality that can hold people back<\/a>. It can start with poor parenting, and that damage can then be compounded in a poor or coasting school. And later, in adolescence, young people can lack access to vital, life-enriching experiences, mentors and support networks. We\u2019ve got to think radically here \u2014 and with expanded parenting provision<\/a>, teaching character in schools, and new mentoring<\/a> and work experience programmes, I think we can rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n

But improving life chances only gets you part of the way there. You can have a great start in life, but still be held back \u2014 often invisibly \u2014 because of your background or the colour of your skin. So the second thing we need to do is tackle discrimination. I don\u2019t care whether it\u2019s overt, unconscious or institutional \u2014 we\u2019ve got to stamp it out. We don\u2019t need politically correct, contrived and unfair solutions. Quotas don\u2019t fix the underlying problems. To succeed, we must be far more demanding of our institutions, and be relentless in the pursuit of creative answers.<\/p>\n

One area we should look at is the criminal justice system. It\u2019s disgraceful that if you\u2019re black, it seems you\u2019re more likely to be sentenced to custody for a crime than if you\u2019re white. We should investigate why this is and how we can end this possible discrimination. That\u2019s why I have asked David Lammy MP to lead a review<\/a> of the overrepresentation of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities in the criminal justice system. And this will include possible sentencing and prosecutorial disparity.<\/p>\n

Another area where we need action is our universities. It\u2019s striking that in 2014, our top university, Oxford, accepted just 27 black men and women out of an intake of more than 2,500. I know the reasons are complex, including poor schooling, but I worry that the university I was so proud to attend is not doing enough to attract talent from across our country. And these problems go deep elsewhere, too: white British men from poor backgrounds are 5 times less likely to go into higher education than others.<\/p>\n

There is a real chance to help nudge universities into making the right choices and reaching out in the right ways. For example, there was compelling evidence that people with ethnic-sounding names were less likely to get call-backs for jobs, even with the same qualifications. That\u2019s why, last year, I persuaded universities and many other organisations to introduce name-blind applications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today I can announce a further step. We intend to legislate to place a new transparency duty on universities<\/a> to publish data routinely about the people who apply to their institution, the subject they want to study, and who gets offered a place. And this will include a full breakdown of their gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic background. And to focus minds further, Sajid Javid, the business secretary, will chair a summit tomorrow in Downing Street with schools and universities to help chart other ways forward.<\/p>\n

This is all part of our ambitious \u20182020 agenda\u2019 for BME communities. Not just greater numbers at university, but many more jobs, apprenticeships and start-up loans. And I am determined to fix that stubborn problem of underrepresentation in our police and armed forces. To succeed, I want to issue a great call to arms to institutions all across our country. It\u2019s not enough to simply say you are open to all. Ask yourselves: are you going that extra mile to really show people that yours can be a place for everyone, regardless of background? We can all dig deeper \u2014 but I\u2019m confident we can get there. This is Britain; there\u2019s nothing we can\u2019t achieve together.<\/p>\n

We have a claim to be the most successful multiracial, multifaith democracy on earth. In Britain, the children and grandchildren of migrants sit at the Cabinet table, run world-beating companies and win Oscars, Turner prizes and Olympic golds. But our relative success isn\u2019t enough so long as there are young people who don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s a fair chance for them. Discrimination and disadvantage only feed those who preach a message of grievance and victimhood \u2014 and that makes building one nation a harder and longer task. I want this to be the government that finally makes the difference. So let\u2019s ask those big questions. Let\u2019s find the solutions. Let us together finish the fight for real equality in Britain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing in the Sunday Times, the Prime Minister explained the government’s plans to achieve real equality in Britain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}