Communities and neighbourhoods

The Race Equality Advisory Group

The Race Equality Advisory Group is a strategic ad-hoc advisory group of 15 individual practitioners appointed by the department for their specialist knowledge in race equality and specific service delivery areas such as enterprise, health, education, housing, crime reduction, employment, and emerging communities.

REAG has now widened its remit beyond neighbourhood renewal and has 2 overarching aims:

Acting as a critical friend, provide the Department (and Whitehall) with challenge, support, strategic advice and practical interventions to help ensure that their policies deliver on race equality.
Help to ensure that the activities/policies of the Department continue to fulfil it's obligations under the Race Relations Amendment Act by offering clear steers in the early stages of Race Equality Impact Assessments.

How can REAG help you?

REAG seeks to provide strategic advice to Ministers and senior officials through a continued dialogue around the impact of the department's policies on certain communities in deprived areas. REAG has a strong focus on race equality, from the perspective of tackling disadvantage, and narrowing the gap for communities within the most deprived places and the rest of the country.

Who sits on REAG?

REAG brings together people with a range of experience in race and regeneration issues on a quarterly basis. It includes representatives from voluntary and community organisations as well as central, regional and local government. The group is currently chaired by Jeremy Crook (Director of the Black Training and Enterprise Group). See below for a list of the REAG members.

REAG Achievements

REAG has made a rich contribution to a number of policies both in the department (and across Whitehall - Dept for Health, Work and Pensions, Education). Some of REAG's achievements, alongside advising the department on race equality issues, include significant input into the:

Ethnicity Monitoring Guidance (external link)
Diversity Factsheet (external link)
Joint ODPM/Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's Deprived Areas Report (external link)
Home Office's race equality and community cohesion strategy: 'Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society' (external link)
Online Race Resource for Improving Outcomes (ORRION) (external link)
The Equalities Review (external link)

More recently, REAG has also advised colleagues in the Planning White Paper Team, commented on Third Sector strategy, and the Councillors Commission review. The department has also committed itself to work with REAG regarding the investment in community anchors and ensure that they help support the wider BME voluntary and community sector at the local level.

Dear REAG

REAG met with a number of NDCs and other organisations to offer advice to particular problems faced within the communities. As a result of the practical and insightful advice offered by REAG, these organisations have made significant progress in improving outcomes for people in their community.

In the regions

REAG is also committed to offering advice to colleagues in the Government Offices as the group understands the difficulty in tackling race inequalities in areas with small Black and Minority ethnic populations. For example smaller groups are more likely to suffer exclusion and, in some cases, discrimination because they are less able to access services and under-report incidences of racial discrimination. Therefore once meeting a year is hosted by a Government Office who present the particular issues faced within the region around race equality.

If you are interested in hearing more about how REAG can help you email Cherron.Inko-Tariah@communities.gsi.gov.uk or call 020 7944 8303.