Liverpool Waters and Manchester Airport have been named as two of the first four vanguard Enterprise Zones, which the government hopes will deliver new economic growth. The others identified so far are the Boots Campus in Nottingham and Royal Docks in London. 

The new Enterprise Zones reflect the Government's core belief that economic growth and job creation should be led by the private sector. The March Budget announced that the Government would create 21 new Enterprise Zones, within Local Enterprise Partnership areas, with simplified planning rules, super-fast broadband and tax breaks for businesses. It is hoped the areas will have real potential to create new businesses and jobs with wider economic benefits.

The Budget named 11 vanguard Enterprise Zones in total, based within 11 LEPs. In addition to those above, there will be Enterprise Zones in the LEPs led by Greater Birmingham and Solihull, Sheffield City Region, Leeds City Region, Western England (includes Bristol), the Black Country, Tees Valley, and the North East. The exact locations of the zones within these LEPs is still to be confirmed.

The Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations has warned it could also close after the end of a number of contracts and the loss of funding from the strategic partners programme.

Hashmukh Pankhania, chief executive of Cemvo, said it had reduced the number of full-time staff from 10 to three, and the number of project staff had gone from 12 to three.

He said the organisation had only one and a half contracts remaining, worth a total of £117,000. A number of its other contracts had come to an end recently, he said, including one for Essex County Council, which was worth £1.8m to the organisation over the past three years.

Cemvo received £275,953 from the strategic partners programme in 2010/11, but its application for further funding was turned down.

Asked whether he thought the organisation would have to close, Pankhania said it was a possibility but he was trying to remain optimistic about Cemvo being subcontracted for work from the Welfare to Work programme.

"But it's possible that if we don't, we'll have to close or amalgamate with another organisation," he said.

"The future of the organisation is precarious. Our survival depends on the next 12 months. We have to look at different ways of generating income."

Pankhania said Cemvo was closing its offices in Chelmsford, Manchester and Bristol, so only its London office would remain open.

The rural idyll of the village as the last bastion of Englishness is in keeping with the beliefs, hopes and aspirations of many country people, claim researchers from the University of Leicester.

In the wake of the Midsomer Murders furore about notions of Englishness and village life - and the start of a new series of the fictional show - researchers reveal that racism is rife in the English countryside.

Researchers from the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester found opinions and values – which equate the countryside exclusively and unthinkingly with white Englishness – were far from uncommon amongst white rural residents and were in fact echoed in many rural towns and villages.

The academics spoke out after a media storm arose over comments that the fictional village represented the ‘last bastion of Englishness’ and was therefore devoid of ethnic minorities.

"The countryside was, for a number of those we spoke to, the ‘last bastion’ of old-fashioned Englishness which needed to be preserved from the encroachment of the ‘evils’ of late modernity. Not only that, this idea of Englishness was essentially monocultural, in all its forms – white, heterosexual, middle-class, conformist, family-orientated, church-going, conservative and ‘safe’”, said Jon Garland and Neil Chakraborti who conducted the research.

Writing for Leicester Exchanges, the platform for informed public debate established by the University of Leicester, the academics state: "Minority ethnic incomers were often treated with suspicion as many white rural residents felt that they belonged only in the city, with all its concomitant ‘negative’ attributes of noise, pollution, crime and, crucially for some, multiculturalism. The rural, in their eyes, was an escape from all of those things, and the presence of a minority ethnic family suggested that the city was somehow ‘invading’ the space of the tranquil rural they so treasured.”

The academics, who were subjected to a barrage of abuse and even a death threat in the course of their work, said ethnic minorities living in villages were often the targets of abuse: "Our research found that minority ethnic incomers into the countryside often felt the full force of hostility, whether it be through episodes of so-called ‘low-level’ verbal harassment and hostility, or via (thankfully rare) incidents of violent assault. Families were frequently left feeling isolated, not only from their immediate communities but also from fellow minority ethnic rural residents (who were often scattered, in small numbers, across quite large landscapes).Commonly, they also felt forgotten or overlooked by criminal justice agencies, who seemingly refused to take their victimisation seriously, believing that racism could not be a problem in their area as the number of minority ethnic people living there was relatively low.”

The researchers claim that many people clearly feel very affronted by findings that create a picture of  less than a ‘green and pleasant’  countryside for some minority ethnic households - as if by highlighting this issue the academics were somehow challenging the very idea of Englishness itself.

"Perhaps that’s the problem in a nutshell: for many people, notions of Englishness are very much bound up with images of an unspoilt countryside and its gently undulating landscape of farms, cottages and hedgerows, itself a very nostalgic form of national identity redolent of an England left behind many decades ago.

"It also, of course, pre-dates the advent of post-war multiculturalism, and for some white rural residents this is the way that they want it to stay – whatever the realities of modern rural living may actually be.”

Dr Neil Chakraborti and Jon Garland are co-authors of Hate Crime: Impact, Causes and Responses and co-editors of Rural Racism.

Voice4Change are campaigning against the government's refusal to reinstate them as a strategic partner representing minority communities.

The decision, made by the Office for Civil Society (OCS), has meant that Voice4Change including three other equality groups will not receive funding from the strategic partnership programme.

In light of the decision Voice4Change are asking the public to support the campaign by signing their online petition.

Elizabeth Balgobin, chair of Voice4Change, said: "In light of the decision regarding Voice4Change, we ask the government whether they are genuinely committed to building a big, inclusive society. It should reconsider this decision, which closes the door to the BME voice at the top levels of decision-making."

The strategic partners programme, begun in 2006 and was established to build a bridge between government and the third sector to ensure community organisations voices were heard and to initiate change through policy work. Organisations accepted on to the programme will receive a share of £8.2m allocated for the next three years.

Voice4Change England (V4CE) was launched to help give black and minority ethnic (BME) community organisations a stronger voice at a national level, delivery of policy development and to strengthen the voices of disadvantaged minority communities.

To support Voice4Change, sign the petition: Voice4Change Petition

From:www.runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/parliament/parliamentary-blog.html

Wednesday’s annual government Budget has to be understood in light of the more severe changes detailed in last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review. While we welcome some of the measures announced by Chancellor George Osborne, we fear that they will fail to reduce the longstanding disadvantage, lack of opportunity and poverty that many Black and minority ethnic (BME) people experience.

One key announcement was the £630 rise in the personal tax allowance from April 2012. Added to the £1000 rise due to come into force next month, this means that the first £8,015 people earn will be tax-free. This led to claims by the government that it has lifted 1.1 million low paid people out of income tax.

We know that BME people are more likely to experience income poverty. On the face of it, it seems like this measure will help those on low incomes. However, it will not provide any help to people whose income is so low that they don’t pay any tax. Also, if we step back and look at the previously-announced cuts to tax credits and benefits such as Housing Benefit, the effect appears much diluted. Indeed, the Institute for Fiscal Studies argues that changes to tax credits would be a more efficient way of helping poorer households.

Voice4Change England is co-ordinating a Coalition of BME VCS organisations to receive feedback from Andrew Stunell, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Lead Minister for Race Equality, on the Coalition’s shared position statement on race equality.

The position statement was produced in October 2010 in response to a request from the Department for Communities and Local Government to:

• inform the Government's development of a race equality strategy
• affirm a collective commitment to work with the Government to reduce racial inequalities.

The paper represents a starting point for discussions between the Coalition and the Minister, highlighting 20 key priorities for the promotion of race equality across UK society on issues including health, education, employment and political engagement.

Read the Position Statement on Race Equality

The Government has produced a preliminary response to the Position Statment.

Read Government’s response to the Position Statement

The core members of the Coalition include leading Black and Minority Ethnic voluntary and community organisations (BME VCOs) at local, regional and national levels. Other BME VCOs are encouraged to support the Coalition’s calls for action by disseminating the Position Statement widely to their stakeholders and local public bodies. New developments and information in regards to the Position Statement and on Government’s approach to race equality will be publicised as and when becomes available.

On 17 March 2011, Ministers made an announcement to Parliament about the new Equality Duty. They confirmed that the general duty will come into force as planned on 5 April 2011. This is a positive duty that will help public bodies to deliver effective policies and public services, while increasing transparency and democratic accountability.

Draft specific duties regulations to support the general duty were published on 12 January 2011. Since publication, the Government has considered the draft regulations further in the light of two key policy objectives: ensuring that public bodies consider equality when carrying out their functions, and not imposing unnecessary burdens and bureaucracy.

On 17 March, the Government published a policy review paper which seeks views on new draft regulations designed to free up public bodies to do what is appropriate in their circumstances, to take responsibility for their own performance, and be held to account by the public.

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) will be welcoming comments until 21 April 2011.

From 5 April, public bodies will need to comply with the new general duty. To help public bodies understand what their legal obligations are under the general duty and how they might achieve good practice, GEO is working closely with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure clear, practical guidance is made available as soon as possible.

Click here for details on GEO website

Click here for announcement (pdf)

Click here for policy review paper ‘Equality Act 2010: The public sector Equality Duty: reducing bureaucracy’

The Chancellor, George Osborne, presented the 2011 Budget on 23 March.

Measures in the Budget relating to equality included the following:

• The ‘dual discrimination’ provisions in the 2010 Equality Act will not be implemented.
• The right to request flexible working to parents of 17 year olds (planned for April) will be repealed.
• The Government will consult to remove the requirement in the Equality Act 2010 for businesses to take reasonable steps to prevent persistent harassment of their staff by third parties.
• There will be a moratorium exempting micro-businesses and start-ups from new domestic regulation for three years from 1 April 2011.
• There will be funding for additional work experience placements for young people and apprenticeship places.
• Government will launch a public thematic review to reduce the stock of regulation and will launch a major drive to revise burdensome EU regulations and directives.

Click here for link to the Budget