Terms of reference

The Anti-racist Wales Plan sets out a co-designed and agreed vision, purpose and values which will underpin the work of the Accountability Group.

A Vision of

A Wales that is anti-racist.

Purpose

To collectively make a measurable difference to the lives of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in Wales.

Values

To be open and transparent, to have lived experience at the heart of all it does and to be rights-based.

The development plan highlighted the issue of a lack of trust in all sectors for supporting and enabling race equality actions; and an ‘implementation gap’ where well-intentioned work and plans fail to deliver against stated ambitions.

For the Anti-racist Wales Plan to achieve its vision and purpose there will need to be constant work to secure and maintain trust with ethnic minority individuals, groups and communities and to ensure a sustained focus on implementation.

The Anti-racist Wales Plan Accountability Group (the Group) will work actively and in collaboration with the Internal Welsh Government Challenge and Support Group, the Race Disparity Evidence Unit, and with regional Race and other protected group fora. It will ensure compatibility and coherence with other Welsh Government equality strands and policy. Appendix 7 shows the role and remit of the Welsh Government’s Internal Support and Challenge Group.

The overarching purpose of the Accountability Group will be to ensure progress towards the purpose of the plan by holding those responsible to account for what they do or don’t deliver. The responsibility for ensuring implementation lies with those policy leads and wider sectors who are responsible for the actions.

The Group will also be a central point for the governance of all race-related work in the Welsh Government and ensures that work is joined up in both in the shaping and in the delivery phases. It will also scrutinise compliance with Equalities legislation. The Group will assess the extent to which progress is being made towards the vision and challenge, support (including co-design) and advise on any areas of anti-racism which they think need to be explored based on new challenges and successes as they emerge.

The remit of the Group will include:

• setting priorities for the Goals and Actions they consider important and urgent
• receiving and scrutinising reports from the Internal Welsh Government Support and Challenge Group
• requesting Ministerial attendance for specific agenda items
• assessing, challenging and reporting on progress in achieving the vision by implementing the goals and actions in the plan, ensuring progress is making a material difference to the lived experience of ethnic minority people in Wales
• identifying key new policies needed and supporting any co-design of them
• identifying and making recommendations on emerging themes and new actions to make progress to towards the vision and champion good practice
• to play a key role and have influence in the development of the Race Disparity Evidence Unit work programme so that the group can respond to concerns about patterns of racism or where the desired change does not materialise when actions are implemented. This includes suggesting quantitative or qualitative data collection or analysis to fill gaps in the evidence base. These evidence based projects could be carried out or commissioned (for example, from Wales Centre for Public Policy) by the Unit to meet this remit
• inviting organisations, including Commissioners, regulators, inspection and audit bodies to discuss issues in their areas of influence
• making recommendations for using to their maximum impact, existing government levers and requesting the strengthening any Government levers it deems necessary to progress on anti-racism
• convening Task and Finish groups as requested by Welsh Ministers or identified by themselves and in consultation with the Welsh Government
• inviting, on an ad hoc basis, any expert the Group thinks will add value to give support, evidence or steer on a particular issue
• ensuring an intersectional approach to all the policy work
• annually publishing public statements of progress

The Accountability Group will have an assigned amount of financial resources allocated to it annually to commission reports, research and other items as they deem necessary.

The Group will have the values of the plan as a guiding principle for its ways of working. This will mean providing challenge with high support, ensuring that the lived experiences of ethnic minority people are always informing progress, that transparency and openness are observed and that the approach is rights-based rather than based on favour and so to be anti-racist.

One of the strong messages which emerged during the development of the plan was that governance arrangements which oversee implementation should enable people to take action. Therefore, the Group will make recommendations on the levers and tools which should be used to drive change and focus attention and resources. Some levers like evidence can be pulled by the Accountability Group, and others can only be exercised by those responsible, for example, by the Welsh Government for remit letters, for grants conditions etc. As the implementation progresses, the need for further levers, either to be used by government or by the Accountability Group, will be discussed with Welsh Ministers.

In order to maintain a high level of dialogue to wider groups of ethnic minority and other stakeholders across Wales, the Group will ensure an active dialogue with the regional forums for Race and other protected groups.

The Group will be supported by the Race Disparity Evidence Unit, and where intersectionality is important the wider Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units to provide quantitative and qualitative data. The latter will ensure and include lived experiences.

The Race Disparity Evidence Unit will also support the publication of an annual report on progress.

Co-Chairs: Prof. Ogbonna, Cardiff University and Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary.

Eight diversity representation

Appointments of the diversity representatives will be designed to reflect and invite representation by expression of interest, in an open and transparent way, of:

• Eight diversity representatives of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, representing different parts of Wales and including:
  • women
  • future generations
  • LGBTQ+ people
  • disabled people
  • young people
  • elders
  • refugees and asylum seekers
  • Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities

We propose that the diversity representatives will be:

• people living and working (unless a young person or older person) in Wales
• have personal/direct experience of racism
• provide intersectional representation
• have experience of, or a willingness to, engage in a process of supporting policy and service improvement and providing constructive challenge

They may not necessarily be members of organisations working on issues relating to race (although they could be and, if they are, we will need a balance of organisations represented) but will have some capacity/scope/means to locate their representation within wider communities in Wales (for example, not disconnected individuals).

As a group, the diversity representatives will be:

• varied in their backgrounds and experience
• from varied organisations, should they work for one, to ensure a variety in the organisations represented

The Welsh Government can consider paying for them as long as there is a transparent process to appoint them.

Seven experts by experience and expertise on anti-racism recruited

Seven experts by lived experience with expertise in implementing anti-racist policies, linked to the areas of the plan’s focus of the implementation recruited via an open and transparent way for 2 years.

They will differ from the diversity representatives in that they:

• might live or work outside Wales (although we would not want all of them to)
• have expertise in anti-racist practice in different contexts relevant to the implementation of the plan
• but as a group, still offer variety in experience, backgrounds and some intersectionality

Again, the Welsh Government would seek the best route to securing payments for these individuals and again, recruit them in an open and transparent manner.

Representation (time limited until their work is concluded) from current work on anti-racism for the Welsh Government:

• Prof Charlotte Williams
• Gaynor Legall

Representation invited from:

• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• WLGA
• Wales TUC
• WCVA
• Welsh Government Minority Ethnic Staff Network (MESN)

Policy co-designer/advisors

• Head of the Anti-racist Wales Implementation Team.
• Director for Communities and Tackling Poverty.
• Senior Policy Lead for Equalities in the Welsh Government (is Board member).
• Chief Nursing Officer for Wales.

Policy leads responsible for implementation

Policy leads should attend as observers but can participate when the discussion relates to their policy areas.

Welsh Ministers will be invited to the Accountability Group on an ad hoc basis to provide an opportunity to share progress updates and plans within their Ministries to achieve an anti-racist Wales.

Twice a year the First Minister (or Minister this is delegated to) will be invited to receive an update on progress, successes and areas for further focus as seen by the Accountability Group.

Relevant Commissioners, Regulators, Audit and Inspection bodies will be invited to attend at least once.

A senior member of the Anti-racist Wales Implementation team will liaise with the co-Chairs regularly and secretariat will be provided by the Welsh Government but agenda items will be determined and led by members and the co-Chairs.

The Group will meet every 2 months.

The Group will agree an Annual Progress Report, and timing for it will be agreed at their first meeting.

The External Chair will also meet with the First Minister and with the Minister for Social Justice twice a year to raise any discussion the First Minister or the Minister for Social Justice deems appropriate.