The findings from this research in relation to the 4 areas explored suggest the need for action. A set of general recommendations that could be considered by NLC and other stakeholders in relation to each of the 4 themes are presented here.

Further suggestions to address specific challenges faced by women and the Syrian refugee community are also stated.

General recommendations

Ageing population and health care

Poor proficiency in the English language is adversely impacting the ability of BAME communities to engage effectively with health and social care services. Health boards and other service providers should review the current level of interpreting services they offer and consider recruiting more interpreters to address the language barrier, which is a particular issue among the elderly.

In view of the increasing numbers of elderly people among BAME communities, there is a need for an overhaul of the current system of personal care to ensure that it is culturally sensitive and can meet the demands of BAME families. In particular, service providers need to ensure that the training regime implemented for those who undertake care roles incorporates an understanding of the cultural needs of diverse communities. NLC could also explore ways of recruiting more carers from BAME backgrounds.

In this respect, outreach work in BAME communities may prove helpful.

A one size fits all approach based on a western centric model is not effective at meeting the mental health needs of BAME communities. Primary and secondary health care services therefore need to acknowledge alternative perspectives on mental health. Working with a range of stakeholders including community gatekeepers and faith leaders would be helpful in creating and promoting greater understanding of alternative approaches to mental health.

More trained practitioners are required to support service users from the refugee communities who have experienced trauma and persecution in their country of origin. This is important in helping refugees settle in the UK and provide a sense of stability and security to individuals.

Hospitals should be doing more to meet the cultural needs of ethnic minority patients including in relation to dietary, spiritual and religious matters. Overall, health service providers at all levels of health care need to develop cultural competence.

Places of worship could benefit from more resources and support from NLC as they are viewed by some BAME communities as ideal venues to help tackle social isolation among the elderly.

Mainstream day care centres should incorporate more culturally sensitive activities to attract greater engagement and participation from elderly members of the BAME community.

Digital skills and inclusion

The move by NLC and other service providers to move services online since the pandemic has led to social marginalisation among the elderly in BAME communities who have lower levels of digital literacy and language skills. There is a need to review this approach and consider providing more face to face opportunities to address the digital skills gap and consider ways to engage the elderly in IT training to improve future digital competency. At present, some elderly people are missing out on important information that is only available online.

NLC and other stakeholders need to improve the provision of IT training to BAME communities by tailoring such provision to the specific requirements of BAME groups and offering training in a variety of languages other than English.

NLC should explore the possibility of making more venues available where BAME communities can access the internet, digital hardware and IT equipment.

NLC should investigate possible further avenues for financial support to help low income BAME households acquire better quality digital and IT equipment.

Employment and skills

Employees from BAME backgrounds are overrepresented in low status and low paid jobs and face discrimination in the recruitment and selection process. Employers across North Lanarkshire should sign up to more schemes and charter marks that embrace or promote equal opportunities in employment to help improve workplace and labour market opportunities for BAME groups.

Members of BAME communities have indicated that the skills and qualifications some of them acquired in their countries of origin are not always recognised and valued in the UK and this hampers employment prospects further. Relevant agencies and organisations such as the DWP should implement strategies that could help boost employment skills and opportunities for BAME groups. This could include exploring the extent to which skills and qualifications acquired by BAME communities before their arrival to the UK can be matched to equivalent qualifications recognised in the UK.

Business support agencies such as Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise could explore ways in which they can tailor their advice to assist individuals from the BAME communities wishing to pursue entrepreneurial activity. Agencies and authorities could investigate partnership and collaboration with other organisation to provide specific support to for example refugee communities wishing to engage in entrepreneurship. One such example to draw on could be TERN (The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network), a non-profit social enterprise set up in London to provide business advice, support and start-up training tailored to the needs of refugees (TERN, 2022).

Community cohesion and integration

Given the value of language in helping to promote community integration and cohesion, NLC should evaluate the curriculum delivered in ESOL classes to ensure that it is tailored to the needs of learners.

NLC should take a more proactive approach in celebrating diverse cultures across the North Lanarkshire region.

Children from BAME backgrounds have reported experiencing racial microaggression and bullying at school. NLC should ensure that schools showcase the region’s rich ethnic and racial diversity in their educational provision to promote tolerance and greater understanding between BAME groups and the host community.

NLC should explore the feasibility of allowing families from minority faith communities to choose whether to send their children to a denominational or non-denominational school.

Greater diversity of the workforce in NLC and partner agencies would help to improve the uptake of council services among BAME service users as well as increase BAME groups’ sense of belonging to the host community.

NLC should give greater consideration to the safety and security of BAME families when offering housing in certain areas and this should be considered in the criteria applied by housing providers.

More transparency from NLC about the criteria used to allocate resources to certain BAME groups is required in order to address concerns of favouritism that some BAME groups benefit from more resources than others.

Elected officials at both council and parliamentary level need to do more work to understand the needs of BAME communities, especially out with election time. This would go some way to allay concerns that the views of BAME groups only matter when elections are approaching.

Political parties in North Lanarkshire should work more closely with BAME communities to encourage interest in politics and consider active ways in which to increase representation of BAME groups in the political process.

More work is required to gain access to BAME communities living in areas which are poorly represented in this research. This includes Kilsyth and the Northern Corridor. Perhaps collaboration with third sector organisations and community groups could be beneficial here.

Gender-specific recommendations

In addition to the above set of general recommendations, it is worth considering specific actions that could benefit women from various BAME groups:

As reported in this research, Congolese women face challenges in their attempts to improve their proficiency in the English language and achieve digital literacy on par with their male counterparts. This is down to their confinement to household chores such as looking after children. NLC and other agencies could consider investing more resources into providing childcare facilities that would allow Congolese women to participate in English classes and IT training.

We have also gathered from this research that Syrian women with children not requiring regular supervision would be open to volunteering opportunities. NLC and other organisations should consider Syrian women for appropriate opportunities within the voluntary sector. This would also have the added benefit of increasing Syrian women’s sense of belonging to the local community.

Syrian females were also more likely to face discrimination as a result of wearing the hijab. The authorities should consider ways to support Syrian women to report such instances of discrimination. Relevant measures should also be put in place through community groups and schools to educate local communities about diverse cultures and practices to promote tolerance.

Women from the Indian sub-continent indicated that domestic abuse was an issue within their community but was very much a taboo area, which made it challenging to address. There was a suggestion that the absence of a culturally sensitive support service made it difficult for victims to come forward. NLC in conjunction with other stakeholders should explore the possibilities of setting up a support service staffed by those with appropriate cultural awareness training. To tackle this issue sensitively and successfully will require a change in mindset among men from the Indian sub-continent and any support networks should therefore also engage with males from the Indian-sub-continent to educate them about the negative impact of domestic abuse.

To help women from the Indian subcontinent realise their potential and develop careers and contribute to the labour market, relevant organisations across North Lanarkshire should consider investment in training courses that can help improve interpersonal skills and empower women within their local communities. There should also be consideration given to setting up a women’s organisation dedicated to the needs of women from the Indian sub-continent similar to those that exist in Glasgow. Women in this research bemoaned the absence of such organisations devoted to their needs.

Lessons from the experiences of the Syrian refugees: 7 years on

Based on the views expressed by the Syrian refugee community in this research there are lessons that the authorities can learn that will allow them to consider appropriate interventions.

Some of the suggested policy interventions have already been captured in the general set of recommendations identified above but it is worth recapping that in relation to health and social care, services need to ensure that they are responsive to the needs of the individual. This should include ensuring that services have the capacity to be culturally appropriate when providing care and treatment.

There is a need to focus on improving the language skills of the adults among the Syrian refugee community. Without effective language skills, work prospects for those fit and able are being hampered as is the ability to integrate effectively with the host community.

Schools in North Lanarkshire could also do a better job at celebrating the rich diversity of cultures including the Syrian culture.

This could go some way towards tackling microaggression and bullying faced by Syrian children. As noted in the findings, Syrian females who wore the hijab were concerned about the abuse and discrimination they encountered.