Positive Action in Action: Equal Opportunities and Declining Opportunities on Merseyside (Research in Ethnic Relations Series)

This work sets out to give an account of the implementation of an equal opportunities/positive action programme by the VAT Headquaters of Customs and Excise on the occasion of its move from Southend to Liverpool in 1993. This policy and the move itself became incorporated into the urban regeneration of Merseyside and was made high-profile in a style that threatened to embarrass Customs and Excise. In the event other government agendas intervened which were in conflict with both the urban regeneration and equal opportunities agendas (reducing public expenditure, cutting the size of the state sector through market testing and privatization). Customs and excise nonetheless went ahead with a positive action programme of targeted training which then brought them into conflict with other government agencies and local interests in Liverpool. The outcome has been a small increase in black employment in Customs and Excise but a significant improvement in its standing within a community that was at first sceptical of its motives. This book examines and explains the background to the development of equal opportunities policies by a conservative government, providing an analysis of policy implementation, in favourable conditions, over a six-year-period.