Cabinet Office finds integration of Pakistani women ‘shockingly bad’

Pakistani women are living in an “entirely different society” and are “shockingly badly integrated”, the UK’s first audit into the disparity between races will reveal.

The findings by the Cabinet Office, due to be published on Tuesday, will give an unprecedented insight into how people from different backgrounds are treated in society, including their access to healthcare, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

The findings appear on the same day as the publication of an independent report which will show that the poorest Asian families are the biggest losers from the tax and benefit changes and the cuts in public services spending imposed since 2010 and those changes still to be implemented up to 2020.

While the poorest fifth of society will be hardest hit by cuts, there are significant gaps between racial groups. The factors influencing this include family size, single parenthood and educational attainment. Asian households will be £11,678 worse off overall by 2020, compared with a fall of £6,199 in real terms across the decade for white households. The gap amounts to £105 a week.

The findings, to be published by the Women’s Budget Group and the Runnymede Trust, will be politically sensitive because they show government policies are directly responsible for imposing hardship on ethnic minorities.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, is likely to come under pressure to reveal assessments of how his measures will have an effect on different ethnic groups when he delivers his budget on November 22.

“It’s very shocking,” a source close to the Cabinet Office said of the disparity audit. “Other communities have integrated very well but the audit shows that Pakistani women who don’t speak English or go out to work are living in an entirely different society and are shockingly badly integrated.”

A recent study of community cohesion in Britain, led by Dame Louise Casey, branded ministerial attempts to boost the integration of ethnic minorities as little more than “saris, samosas and steel drums for the already well-intentioned”.

Overall, employment rates are far higher for white people (75.7%) than black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) people (63.9%) across the country as a whole.

The audit was requested by Theresa May after she pledged to tackle injustices in society.

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