Findings from the analysis undertaken of the focus groups and interviews are reported in this section.

These findings are deemed to be representative of all or most of the BAME communities that participated in the research. The findings are presented under each of the 4 key themes in relation to this research: An ageing population; digital skills and inclusion; employment and skills; and community cohesion and integration.

Given the additional interest of the research in understanding lived experiences from a gendered perspective and a desire to gauge the specific experiences of Syrian refugees, some findings in relation to these areas are also presented. It should be noted that quotes cited from responses by participants in their mother tongue were translated into English by interpreters.

Key findings by theme

Ageing Population

Language was a barrier in the ability to make effective use of health and social care services especially for those who had little or no proficiency in the English language.

This was particularly the case among elderly ethnic minorities and those who were born outside the UK.

The problem was accentuated by regulations which prohibit patients from using family and friends to interpret at appointments and consultations. In instances where professional interpreters were provided, they were not always available on a consistent basis:

“I think the main area is the language barrier….it is quite hard to get the necessary support if the service provider cannot provide the language support. I think a lot of older ethnic minorities still cannot speak fluent English. How can a home help be of any use if they can’t pick up what support the client needs”? (Chinese interviewee 2 - male).

“In the household we have people who can speak English but because legally my child or my wife is not allowed to translate or interpret that is where the barrier comes in…the council, the NHS need to provide an interpreter” (Congolese male focus group - participant 4).

“I had interpreting service support for a while when I went to see the GP. That was given for a short period of time and then it was stopped. It also depends on which staff you are dealing with. Some staff are very aware of who to phone to arrange for an interpreter but other staff just don’t have a clue” (Chinese interviewee 3 - female).

The lack of a culturally sensitive care service was leading to personal care being rejected by ethnic minority families and subsequently increased the burden on family members and relatives. Effective personal care at home required more paid carers who represented the ethnicity of patients and who were therefore culturally sensitive to the needs of service users. Where this was not possible, an alternative could be to provide training in cultural awareness to white carers. The current gap in providing effective and culturally sensitive personal care to BAME communities was viewed with pessimism in the context of the future needs of disabled and elderly ethnic minority communities in North Lanarkshire:

“Asian families want people coming into their homes who understand the religious requirements, the personal hygiene requirements, all those sorts of things, and the trouble with home carers is the majority of them are non-Muslim and where families have them coming in after a few weeks they say ‘no thank you’ because it is not working” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 1).

“It is a big gap (the lack of ethnic minority carers)…I am not aware of a lot of Chinese carers out there. So, I think there is a need for maybe a kind of drive or incentive to recruit the carers who can speak the ethnic minority languages” (Chinese interviewee 2 - male).

“There is not enough people from our culture to understand what the elderly will go through during the time when they need personal care…. I think maybe more research in how those people in that community live and look for people who have at least knowledge on the culture and the needs and values of that person. So maybe before they (social and personal care services) send people to support the person, they need to make sure that person has at least the knowledge of the culture” (Congolese male focus group - participant 6).

There was a perception that mainstream mental health services were western-centric and failed to acknowledge alternative perspectives on mental health, which in turn reduced trust in the services among BAME communities:

“All services including the mental health department need to actually understand Islamic beliefs because they have got a viewpoint of psychology and they think everything is medical when in fact there are spiritual issues involved which need to be looked at when dealing with mental health issues” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 3).

“Mental health is not just about someone being depressed or going crazy. There can be other forces at work which had led to this situation. These need to be explored with the help of religious people” (Syrian male focus group - participant 2).

There was frustration at the attitude of receptionists when engaging with primary health care services such as GP services when requesting appointments. Over inquisitive receptionists were endangering patient confidentiality and lack of respect from receptionists towards BAME patients was discouraging engagement with GP services:

“When you go to the reception there is that ‘you are not meant to be here’…….‘you are meant to do it online’….the receptionist was like ‘you don’t have an appointment’, ‘you must leave now’, ‘you can’t be here’… so people are finding that their health is getting worse” (Syrian male focus group - participant 2).

“I think the chain of communication needs to be improved when it comes to GPs so sometimes if you call and if you are not dying then you don’t get to see the GP”! (Black African and Caribbean female focus group - participant 4).

“There was one incident when there was a mix up with my appointment when I arrived at the surgery and the receptionist said ‘we can’t do anything about it, it’s not our fault’, and while I was speaking to her she went ‘could you wait at the side’ and she started serving the other patient who was white. I felt like this was racism because when it is a white British person they show them more respect” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 1).

Although long waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment of long-term health conditions were not viewed as being uncommon, they were causing much frustration. Some BAME groups were making comparisons with their country of origin where they felt they had received a better standard of service:

“Oh my god! You can die waiting for everyone….I went to the GP because my daughter had a serious mental health issue and the doctor said he could not do anything but gave me a referral but said I might have to wait for months by which time I thought that my child might kill herself” (Polish focus group -participant 1: female).

“It used to be 3 or 4 days waiting for a GP appointment, now you are waiting way longer that that. Then it is on the telephone, you don’t understand them, there is no interpreters or nothing available” (Syrian female focus group - participant 3).

“Some people I know are going back home because it is quicker to be seen by a specialist there whereas here it is longer” (Syrian male focus group - participant 1).

“I have been here for 4 years and honestly the GP service is nothing to write home about. They don’t care…you won’t believe me when I tell you that I come from a small village in Africa where they are more organised. Here I do not even know who my doctor is as they are always changing doctors all the time” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 1: female).

Overall, the pandemic had had an adverse impact on the experience of using health and social care services among BAME communities.

Digital skills and inclusion

For most BAME communities, there was a marked digital divide between the younger and older generations and between those who had better proficiency in English and those who lacked the necessary language skills. There were concerns about the ability of the older generation to cope with the increase in services provided online since the pandemic. Given that many services were likely to remain online in the future, this was increasing concerns in relation to future needs. While some communities were able to rely on younger people to bridge the digital divide, those who were alone or had no family or friends were viewed as being vulnerable to further isolation:

“They (older people) can’t really use the technology. They are not up to date on that kind of thing and those elderly people who are living on their own they are struggling even more to access important information that is online” (Congolese female focus group - participant 2).

“My mum has an i Phone 12 but all she can use it for is to make telephone calls. It is a shame. She can’t use it for any other purpose. She does not have an iPad or Laptop and she would not know how to use it” (Chinese interviewee 5 - male).

“I don’t want to generalise, but I think the older generation the majority of them don’t actually know how to read or write in English and because the internet and digital services are geared more towards English, they just cannot cope and are reluctant to learn” (Indian sub-continent female focus group -participant 1).

“We can maybe use the phone and stuff like that but when it comes to reserving things or booking things or a GP appointment we can’t do that” (Syrian female focus group - participant 3).

“I think you have the issues with the older people…they don’t speak English but there are IT courses available if you look for them. Digital skills are not a problem it is more language skills” (Polish focus group - participant 3: male).

The provision of IT training by the council and other agencies was deemed helpful and was welcomed. However, there were concerns that some aspects of the training did not meet the needs of learners and consequently uptake was low. Furthermore, offering IT training in different languages was seen as being more effective and would encourage higher uptake given that poor proficiency in the English language was a contributory factor in the lack of engagement with training:

“I would welcome IT classes for myself to increase or enhance my IT skills. I would welcome any support from the Council on this” (Chinese interviewee 1 - female).

“The support we would like to see is yes maybe training for  us. We would like it to be in 2 languages for it to be effective” (Syrian female focus group - participant 4).

“There used to be IT classes I think but they are too basic. They are not really the ones we need when it comes to dealing with real life situations and trying to get a job” (Congolese female focus group - participant 2).

Views were mixed on whether cost was a barrier to accessing digital hardware and reliable internet services with those communities who were relatively affluent such as the Indian sub-continent, Chinese and Polish communities not viewing cost as an impediment, but the Congolese and Syrian refugee communities and the Black African and Caribbean community were concerned about the cost of purchasing digital hardware:

“The prices of devices is very expensive. During Covid some of the kids got devices to use at home but now if you don’t have a job you cannot afford these devices” (Syrian male focus group - participant 3).

“If you look at the prices at the moment, everything is high. So, wages completely dropping for the income and getting a computer right, what am I going to buy a computer or pay for electricity or food…you have to prioritise” (Congolese male focus group - participant 4).

“Cost is an issue because sometimes the only thing you have is the library and the library have a set time for closing and opening…sometimes when you go there all the computers are taken…..more places are required where people can access equipment if they can’t afford to buy it” (Congolese female focus group - participant 1).

“Because of cost we are looking at free access to the internet and digital equipment…the council should work hand in hand with charity organisations to get people access” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 1: male).

In terms of future needs, some financial support for accessing digital equipment would be welcomed by specific communities especially over concerns that digital services were overtaking face to face service provision since the pandemic.

Employment and skills

Occupational segregation in the labour market was viewed as being rife with BAME employees overrepresented in low status and low paid jobs. Many BAME people were working in jobs that were below their level of education and qualifications:

“I’ve worked in a few places, I’ve worked in warehouses and home deliveries…I’m working at a takeaway now….I just think it’s slave labour. You’re getting a low wage and barely getting a break. You are sometimes constantly working for 5 or 6 hours in a row….this cannot be right or even legal” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 4).

“You get your CV done, you go to work and you tell them that you have these qualifications and experience from back home… at the end of the day you get a job in a factory and it is nothing related to your experience” (Congolese male focus group - participant 6).

“There are barriers that stop people progressing in jobs… I don’t like to use the word discrimination but you know what I mean….There is an element of people finding it quite hard to break into say management when they are obviously qualified so the job they end up with is kind of low down and there is very few people from ethnic minorities in senior management (Chinese interviewee 2 - male).

Perceptions of racial discrimination and lack of opportunities for BAME people in the labour market contributed to unemployment and confinement to low level jobs as well as the inability to acquire the desired experience:

“My son has got a degree and had a job. He lost his job because of Coronavirus. Now he can’t get a job wherever he applies. He’s got education…he says he has submitted 30 or 40 applications. It’s racism that is happening with my son” (Indian sub-continent male - participant 1).

“The interview processes are not fair….at the end of the day you hear things like ‘oh sorry we got someone that’s more qualified’…it is silent discrimination…you feel really uncomfortable with the whole process” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 3: female).

“Racism can be subtle and not always easy to prove. You go for a job interview and there are ten people going for the interview. They could all have the same skills and experience but the Chinese one will not get picked” (Chinese interviewee 3 - female).

For some BAME groups, language was a barrier to attaining high paid and high-status jobs even for those who possessed good educational qualifications and experience from their country of origin:

“I think for me, my husband is a gas safe engineer because there was no other option. He has a language problem. So, he could not find a job so he chose to be self-employed” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 2).

“There are people here who came over with great qualifications like electricians and plumbers but they are working for low paid jobs now because they still can’t’ bring themselves to speak English so they are working well below their qualifications and skills” (Polish focus group - participant 3: male).

“Nowadays you need to apply online for jobs. Some people can do that very easily but some people can’t. The forms you have to fill in are in English so people whose background is Indian or Pakistani it is a bit hard for them even if they were qualified back home” (Indian sub-continent female - participant 2).

Self-employment was an attractive option for many BAME groups as it provided an escape route from unemployment and low paid jobs and compensated for lack of educational qualifications. Furthermore, there was an expectation among some BAME groups that children would carry on with the family business that had been built by their parents at the expense of pursuing education:

“Children after they come from school a lot of them have to share responsibilities of the family business. Lots of families don’t have educational aspirations because they have the family businesses to fall back on” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 8).

“I set up a business because I could not find a job. It (self-employment) is very hard but once you go on that path you don’t want to go back to working for someone else” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 3).

BAME groups would welcome training schemes and better support from agencies and organisations to help boost skills that could help enhance employment prospects and assist individuals to gain work experience:

“Unemployment is high in our community because when we came here we didn’t have experience. So for every job, they ask for experience and more training and if you don’t have that training then how do you get a job…we need more training and apprenticeships opportunities including for adults” (Congolese male focus group - participant 2).

“I think there should be more support in getting more Chinese people back to work especially the work they are looking for. Not everyone wants to work in a Chinese kitchen or restaurant. Maybe some training to help them get the right qualifications to do the kind of work they really want to do” (Chinese interviewee 2: male).

“The government needs to provide better support for people who want to set up their own businesses and guide people…we made appointments with organisations but their services were not suitable…we need somebody to take us through step by step and explain the law and regulations that come with that” (Syrian female focus group - participant 2).

“To open up a shop or other business you need to do a lot of paperwork…there is a lot of bureaucracy…they will send you to this big Business Gateway who will give you papers and tell you to go find someone who will help you do this (complete the paperwork)” (Congolese male focus group -participant 4).

Community cohesion and integration

Integrating with the host or white majority community was broadly supported by all BAME groups. However, language was viewed as the prime barrier to integration especially for those born overseas and the elderly.

“Yes I think it (integration) is important…for a couple of years when I first came here I did not want to integrate with anyone especially people from here as I did not feel Scotland was my home. However, after a few years I now see this place as home and I now try to connect with local people” (Polish focus group - participant 4: male).

“I think to integrate with the community of any country you are going to have to learn the majority spoken language to have the proper inclusion and integration (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 6).

“The main barrier is the language….can you integrate if you do not understand Scottish people?…You struggle with the accent” (Polish focus group – participant 5: male).

“I would like to meet more friends and go to different clubs and whatever but due to language barrier I am not able to do that…..I can’t have any in-depth conversations or meaningful interactions with my neighbours” (Chinese interviewee 3 - female).

Despite support for integration, most BAME groups believed in the importance of maintaining their cultural and religious identity and felt they had to strike a balance between the two. Achieving integration and preserving cultural and religious identity simultaneously were viewed as being possible but challenging:

“I think it is possible to do both (integrate and maintain cultural and religious identity)…personally I am an ambassador of my own country and my culture…I would go out of my way to try and make friends with my neighbours (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 7).

“You can integrate to a certain point…..you can’t fully integrate because you will lose your own cultural and religious heritage so there has to be a limit to integration” (Syrian male focus group participant 1).

“I don’t want to integrate completely into Scottish society. I want to maintain my Chinese identity. This is important for me” (Chinese interviewee 4 - female).

“My culture is very important. Even though my children are Scottish, I don’t want them to learn one language…..I want them to be bilingual as they have another culture” (Congolese male focus group -participant 5).

The ability to speak English was viewed as important by BAME groups for a variety of reasons.  However, some BAME groups did not feel that English classes provided were effective or tailored to their needs:

“English is very important because we live here but the ESOL classes are not appropriate or sufficient. There should be classes about real life things such as jobs…the English they get in class is not what they need…Unfortunately the way ESOL is run is still kind of like what is your name? What is your address?” (Syrian male focus group - participant 2).

“100% if we are staying in the UK, it is an English-speaking language here so to get by we need to be able to speak it. I feel very strongly about that” (Indian sub-continent female - participant 3).

“We struggle with the English classes because we cannot read or write in our own language so English classes are hard for us. We would rather that the classes focused on English conversation (Syrian female focus group - participant 1).

There was a broad consensus that the diverse cultures of ethnic minority groups were not celebrated by North Lanarkshire Council in ways seen in other parts of Scotland such as Glasgow:

“No the council does not celebrate diverse events like Eid….Maybe the Chief Executive does in his own office! But we don’t know anything about it” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 1).

“I would say no (diverse cultures not celebrated). Nothing in Lanarkshire. I think Glasgow is more welcoming that way and there are more signs of welcome there (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 8).

In general, racism from the white community was not a major issue but children experienced racial microaggression at school:

“The girls suffer more bullying because of the hijab. Schools would benefit if they had an awareness of other cultures and showed the positive of each religion….seeing your child bullied and crying makes you uncomfortable” (Syrian male focus group - participant 2).

“There is racism and some kids have felt the wrath of it more than others but also if the ladies are in the hijab it’s worse (Syrian female focus group - participant 4).

“I used to go to a white majority public school and I obviously made friends with a lot of white people and I feel like some people are very nice but there is quite a big group of people who maybe their parents have given them some stereotypes and they bring these to school and use racist slurs and call you terrorist” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 6).

Most BAME groups had a better relationship with each other than with the white community due to shared values, interests and challenges:

“We have more relations and more friendship with Pakistanis than actually white British people because of the similarity in culture and religion (Syrian male focus group - participant 2).

“I feel I can relate to Pakistani, Polish and anyone else who is not like white…we can talk about more things with my Pakistani friends and I can eat the same food and talk about similar things” (Syrian female focus group - participant 4).

“We love non-Scottish people because I think they are my friends, and they are in the same situation as we are” (Polish focus group - participant 1: female).

“Definitely…100% our relationship is better with other ethnic minority groups than whites….I feel that they are facing the same things we blacks have to deal with you know the same issues..” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 2: female).

Most BAME groups felt relatively safe in their neighbourhoods and did not have too many fears when going about day-to-day activities. However, the language barrier and cultural differences hindered greater socialising with the white community:

“My neighbours here are very nice. When I first moved in, they were trying to help me and said ‘if you need this’ or ‘there’s a community centre here’ and things like that” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 4: female).

“I find that some of the older white people are really nice, like my own neighbours. We go over to their house and have dinner with them…they are almost like my Scottish grandparents” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 6).

“Where we stay is alright. We know the neighbours. We know everyone….never had any problems” (Indian sub-continent male focus group - participant 3).

“My neighbours are very good and they have been here for a long time. They have become good neighbours so I feel safe in this community” (Chinese interviewee 1 - female).

Engagement with the political process was low as most groups did not feel that politicians at local or national level did enough to address the issues raised by BAME communities:

“There is not enough representation of Chinese people in local or national politics. Definitely not….you know they are well underrepresented in the Houses of Parliament and in Holyrood. How many Chinese councillors are there or Chinese MPs? I think there is a general apathy about participation in politics” (Chinese interviewee 2 - male).

“They (councillors and politicians) just use you. They use you just to get what they want and after that they tell you they are too busy. They just want your votes but after the elections they are not interested” (Black African and Caribbean focus group - participant 1: male).

Gendered perspectives

In relation to gendered perspectives, this research did not extract anything of note from the Polish, Chinese and Black African and Caribbean communities. However, for the remaining BAME groups there were some gender-specific concerns that are worth highlighting as follows:

• In the Congolese refugee community, there is a digital and English language divide between men and women due to women being primarily housebound with childcare commitments. Not having access to affordable childcare meant that Congolese women lacked the opportunity to attend English classes and IT training. Congolese women also expressed an interest in pursuing employment but found this challenging because their male counterparts were not willing to share the burden of childcare.

• In relation to the Syrian refugee community, women conveyed a desire to pursue employment including volunteering opportunities but only once their children were older and required less monitoring and supervision:

“We want to work with something that is giving back to the community. I would love to volunteer on anything to do with care or mental health” (Syrian female focus group - participant 1).

Syrian women felt that their husbands would only support their wish to work as long as they did not neglect their household duties:

“My husband would not have been happy for me to work before but now he is as long as they don’t have to look after the kids and we do all our house duties” (Syrian female focus group -participant 3).

• Women from the Indian sub-continent stressed that domestic abuse existed in their community but was very much hidden as it was viewed as a taboo area in their culture. The lack of a confidential and culturally sensitive support service discouraged women from speaking out:

“Domestic abuse I would say is very much hidden because of the communities. The Pakistani community here everyone knows each other, and they are very reluctant to bring it out in the open but it is very much there and there is no specific services here in Lanarkshire to provide that sort of cultural support as well. So, whatever happens, it is behind closed doors” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 7).

Indian-subcontinent women also felt that they were held back from realising their full potential by a dominant male culture among their community:

“I think in general it’s a man’s world. This also applies to the white community but is more so in our communities” (Indian sub-continent female focus group - participant 4).

“A lot of Asian women in Lanarkshire can only access services if men are ok with it. If they (men) are not happy with women folk accessing a service they can cause hindrances and put up barriers….it is very much a patriarchal society” (Indian sub-continent focus group - participant 8).

Findings from the Syrian refugee community in the context of the indicators of integration framework

If we assess the experience of the Syrian refugee community using the indicators of integration framework devised by the Home Office (2019), the findings disclose the following in relation to those indicators of the framework captured in this research:

• Health and social care – Participants from the Syrian refugee community felt that mental health services in the UK were not equipped to deal with those suffering from the effects of war and conflict trauma. Furthermore, health care services were not viewed culturally appropriate, for example: where male patients wished to be examined by a male doctor, this was not always possible.

• Digital skills -  In comparison to other BAME groups in North Lanarkshire, the Syrian refugee community did not perceive there to be a big digital divide between the older and younger members of the community and digital illiteracy was not necessarily seen as a problem.

• Work – Poor health was preventing some Syrian men from gaining employment. Those who were fit for work were struggling to find appropriate employment due to the language barrier and jobs not matching their skills. There was a strong appetite for pursuing self-employment including among females but financial constraints hampered this.

• Safety – There were no major concerns about safety and security in the immediate neighbourhoods where refugees resided. However, there was disquiet at bullying and racial and religious microaggressions experienced by some Syrian children at school.

• Language and communication – Language proficiency among adult Syrians was poor and many were relying on children who had attended school in Scotland to help with interpreting and translation.

• Social bonds with those who share a sense of identity – Relationships were very positive with those communities with shared cultural and religious heritage such as other Arab communities and with the Pakistani community.

• Social bridges with people from different backgrounds – Relationships were challenging with people who did not share the same language or religion, including members of the white host community. The language barrier and a desire not to compromise cultural and religious principles were key impediments to building social bridges with people from different backgrounds and hence had a negative impact on advancing integration.