Devon County Council sorry for 'dangerous' levels of racism

Devon County Council commissioned the report and accepted the findings

Devon County Council has apologised after a report found "present, pervasive and dangerous" levels of racism within its organisation.

An internal audit, commissioned by the council, sought to find how black and Asian staff members felt working for the council.

Jermaine Atiya-Alla, Torbay's first black councillor, said he was not surprised by the outcomes.

The council's chief executive said he was "truly sorry".

Dr Phil Norrey said he welcomed the report and accepted the findings.

He said: "The report makes for some hard and uncomfortable reading, and is a stark wake-up call for all of us that racism still exists to an unacceptable extent in our country, in our county, and regrettably, within our council - and for that I am truly sorry."

He said the council had asked for an "honest assessment" of how black and Asian colleagues felt working for Devon County Council.

It also asked how it could become a place where ethnically diverse people felt safe, included and welcomed.

Maia Thomas said some councillors were reluctant to approach black and Asian individuals on their ward for fear of making a mistake

"We need to do more to ensure our black, Asian and ethnically diverse colleagues are able to express their needs and experiences safely and that the points raised will be acted upon swiftly," Dr Norrey added.

Equality, diversity and inclusion consultant, Maia Thomas, said: "Some councillors said they wouldn't approach or are more reluctant to approach black and Asian individuals on their ward for fear of making mistake of language and getting it wrong, but sometimes the impact of that is more harmful.

"It's actually more harmful to say nothing or not represent a whole community of people."

Councillor Atiya-Alla said he was leading a review into racism at Torbay Council.

"There is structural racism within organisations," he said.

"Quite often it goes undetected because there is no proper procedures in place to deal with racism within the work place and that seems to be what is coming out of the highly damning report from Devon County Council."

The council said it was urgently developing an anti-racism framework to be adopted across the council.