To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail the outcome of the meetings of the Good Relations Programme Board which were convened in response to the recent increase in race hate incidents, including any actions that followed.

There have been three meetings of the Good Relations Programme Board focusing on race hate. The meetings have covered a wide range of topics including:

What departments are currently doing/or could do to combat race hate;

How learning from other programmes can inform departmental actions/responses;

The Police Service for Northern Ireland race hate statistics and better identification of areas known for race related hate crime; and

Experiences of Minority Ethnic people (presentations from the North West Migrants Forum and the Ballymena Inter-Ethnic Forum.

The outcomes from these meetings have focussed on:

Improving information to Minority Ethnic people, in particular to newly arrived immigrants;

Improving the sharing of learning between departments to enhance anti racist practice;

The need for departments and Agencies to tackle barriers facing minority ethnic people in accessing their services;

Developing a training programme for the new Councils; and

Developing a core narrative for use across Government;

All of the discussions and outcomes have been used to inform the development of the Racial Equality Strategy, and then production of an implementation plan compete with department’s actions.