Minorities 'to get Government help'

Minority groups will get extra help in a bid to protect them from the economic downturn, it was reported.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell (left) will pledge to ensure women, ethnic minorities, older people and the disabled are not "left behind" during the recession, according to The Independent.

In a speech to Labour's Black Asian and Minority Ethnic conference in Leicester, Mr Purnell will say vulnerable groups were hit hardest by unemployment during previous recessions and will vow to prevent this happening again.

He is expected to announce that the Government will work with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to look at whether "at risk" groups are disproportionately affected by job cuts.

"In the past, too many were left behind in bad times," Mr Purnell will say.

"Ethnic minority workers suffered most in the Tory recessions. Just think of the waste of human potential. Whole communities were abandoned. Families where no one then worked for generations. Unemployment among older workers was deeper and more prolonged ... And we squandered the talents of a generation of disabled people - left at home, a life on benefits with literally no help or support.

"And we know what happened to ethnic minorities, the older workers, the disabled. Over half a million were pushed on to incapacity benefit and forgotten about.

"But, as much as the Tories might have wanted them to, they didn't just disappear. We still bear the scars of those decisions in so many communities and households today.

"In this recession, evidence so far is that its effects ... are being spread across the population more evenly. But we will not take any chances."