You must make sure that your BME statistics really count

It sets out certain visions, such as that BME people should have equal access to services and to providers’ decision-making. So how close is the sector to achieving that goal?

more accurate information on who they actually serve would help. People have come to Britain from all over the world, bringing a rich variety of cultures and languages. They are far more diverse than the broad ethnic categories of the national census imply – and there’s the rub. In the modern world, if you do not figure in the statistics, you often find yourself off the policy map. If you are not counted, you do not count. Housing associations and other social housing providers must make sure that communities lost in the official statistics do not remain invisible when they carry out housing needs surveys and plan services.

These problems were highlighted by a study we commissioned with Sahil Housing Association into Somali housing experiences a couple of years ago. The report found that the 95,000 people of Somali origin in England suffer poor housing, high unemployment, overcrowding and low educational attainment. But information about them was largely anecdotal. Statistically, they were classed with other black Africans, and the researchers found that many agencies were unfamiliar with the notion of ethnic diversity.

Black African is one of the census’ blanket BME groupings that have no regard for different languages, cultures or religions. There are several hundred ethnic groupings in Britain, and a national system cannot record all of them. But many agencies, such as local partnerships, thought that the BME categories represented the full diversity of people who were not white and British.

This goes some way to explaining why local services are in practice directed at the communities who are simply the most visible.

These problems crop up again and again. In the past few years, for instance, studies have found similar issues with north London’s Orthodox Jews and with North African Muslims in Kensington and Chelsea.

In the modern world, if you do not feature in the statistics, you often find yourself off the policy map. If you are not counted, you do not count

A critical step forward would be to stop hiding local communities in statistics. Service providers must ensure that their data keeps up with demography. Housing associations are at an advantage because they can use the Continuous Recording of lettings and sales system to compose statistics. All large associations participate in it, and since April last year councils have been joining too.

This so-called CORE system needs to be used thoughtfully, however. It uses the broad national-census BME classifications, but associations using it locally can and should recognise the true diversity of ethnic groups. For example, an association operating in Hackney, London, should include a category for Orthodox Jews as a sub-category of “White – Other”. Similarly, associations in Hackney and Sheffield must distinguish Somalis from other black Africans. So long as the national data remain sound, individual associations can take their own decisions on this – ideally, after asking the communities themselves how they’d like to be described.

At the corporation we have decided to include “White – Other” within our definition of BME communities. This will enable us to ensure our statistics are picking up arrivals from Eastern Europe. And we propose to include a question on religious identity in CORE from 2006. This will provide a useful cross-check on the broad ethnic categories enabling us, for example, to distinguish between Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Indians.

But this issue is not just about the way we collect and use data. More than that, it is vitally important that associations tap into the extraordinary network of community-based organisations that support under-represented minority groups. This way they will be able to better understand different groups, particularly newly emerging ones.