Commenting as the government publishes its Inclusive Britain report, a response to its Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“NAHT is deeply concerned by the long-awaited Government response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report. It has failed to reflect on the inadequacies of the initial Commission report, which NAHT and others called on the need for at the time of the initial release, and does not go far enough in identifying and tackling the root causes of race discrimination in the UK.

“Despite the time taken to develop the strategy, the response has failed to recognise the challenge and scale of change required. As with the report, the new strategy does not seem to reflect the reality of so many people’s lived experiences. It also fails to appropriately address the many criticisms that the CRED report, rightly faced, at the time of publication.

“NAHT continues to reject any assertion that "blames communities themselves for inequalities because they are 'haunted' by historic, systemic racism" and  "reaffirms our determination to work together in the fight to dismantle systemic racism in all its manifestations".

“NAHT reaffirms its our determination to work together in the fight to dismantle systemic racism in all its manifestations and will continue to press government to go beyond the limited aims of the Inclusive Britain report.”