The BEST Report

The BEST (Black and Ethnic Minority Support Team) partnership was first formed in January 2003, under the Communities First Initiative. A research and mapping proposal was put together because the Partnership was not aware of the BME population distribution in the Communities First areas of North Wales. The Partnership needed to identify community groups and their interaction between Communities First Co-ordinators and partnerships. The partnership were particularly interested in finding out where groups would go for access to services and what the main barriers were for the BME communities in engaging with Communities First.

The principal outcome that the Partnership wishes to achieve is a set of recommendations that could be taken forward in an Action Plan for North Wales.

North Wales Race Equality Network (NWREN), in association with University of Wales, Bangor, was successful in the tendering process. The work was commissioned and the final report was produced in mid October 2004.

The report was then launched at a dinner event by one of its authors, Dr Charlotte Williams (University of Wales, Bangor), with Ieuan Wyn Jones, AM, Plaid Cymru, Leader of the Official Opposition, as the Guest Speaker. At this event, Communities First Co-ordinators and members of Partnership Boards, community groups, members of the NWREN executive and partnership agencies were invited to help us develop an Action Plan so that its ownership could rightly belong to North Wales.

The information covered in the report covers the whole of North Wales and is the first comprehensive look at the BME population in North Wales.

A copy of the Executive Summary can be downloaded from the following link:

• The BEST Report