One of the most interesting things whenever a big government or academic report is released is seeing how the press reports on it. More often than not, many papers choose to cherry-pick facts and figures to suit their own narratives and thus the main findings often end up obscured by tabloid spin.

Recently, some papers have gone a step further and haven’t even bothered waiting for reports to be publicly released, preferring to pre-empt things and write about what they think the findings might be.

This was the case with the government’s Race Disparity Audit, released this week. Seemingly unable to wait until the official midweek release, a number of papers jumped the gun at the weekend and published articles based on a supposed leak from an unnamed government source.

According to all of these news reports, the research was set to reveal how ‘shockingly badly integrated‘ Pakistani women living in Britain are, and how they are living in an ‘entirely different society‘ than the rest of us.

The papers set out their stock quite clearly in their headlines. The Mail on Sunday went with ‘PAKISTANI WOMEN ARE LIVING IN ‘ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SOCIETY’ AND ARE ‘SHOCKINGLY BADLY INTEGRATED’ SAYS OFFICIAL AUDIT’. Similarly, The Sun ran with ‘WORLDS APART: RACE PROBE FINDS PAKISTANI WOMEN LIVING IN AN ‘ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SOCIETY’ TO BRITS AND ARE ‘SHOCKINGLY BADLY INTEGRATED”. The Sunday Express weighed in with ‘PAKISTANI WOMEN ‘SHOCKINGLY BADLY INTEGRATED’ INTO UK LIFE, GOVERNMENT REPORT SAYS’.

Stories filtered down to the more extreme right-wing news sources, with the likes of Breitbart and Jihad Watch linking the story to the failure of multiculturalism, mass immigration and the apparent Muslim take-over of Britain.

With no actual report to base articles on, these publications were citing a ‘source close to the Cabinet Office’ quoted in the Sunday Times as saying ‘Pakistani women who don’t speak English or go out to work are living in an entirely different society and are shockingly badly integrated‘.

The source in question appears to be unnamed, which might ring alarm bells to readers versed in spotting tell-tale signs of dodgy newspaper tactics. However, of far greater concern is the fact that the actual report makes no mention of Pakistani women being ‘shockingly badly integrated’ or living in an ‘entirely different society’ anywhere in its 54 pages.

What it did find with regard to Pakistani women in particular is:

Adults from a Pakistani or Bangladeshi background, primarily those in the older age groups, were the most likely group not to speak English well or at all. However, among Pakistani and Bangladeshi adults aged 16-24, almost all of them could speak English.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi households were more likely to live in deprived areas and receive income-related benefits and tax credits than those from other ethnic groups.

School pupils from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds are achieving almost as well as, and progressing better than, White British pupils.

Although women from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds were the least likely to be employed, the proportion in work has increased substantially since 2004.

Those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds are more likely to be in low-paid, low-skilled work than those from other groups.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi households tend to live in lower quality, overcrowded housing.

Around 1 in 5 Pakistani or Bangladeshi residents do not speak English well or at all. Women are more likely to have poor English proficiency than men but, although almost half of Bangladeshi women and a third of Pakistani women aged over 65 can’t speak English, only 1% of those aged 16-24 cannot speak English.

Other key findings from the report include:

The majority of people from each ethnic group feel a sense of belonging to their local neighbourhood.

Asian and Black households are most likely to experience persistent poverty.

Pupils from Chinese and Indian backgrounds showed the highest educational attainment while those from Gypsy, Roma or Irish Traveller backgrounds had the lowest attainment and progress.

London is the region where the most educational progress and best attainment is being made at state primary and secondary school level.

Home ownership, access to social housing and quality of housing varies widely between ethnic groups but there has been an increase in ethnic minority households recognised as statutory homeless over the past two decades.

White adults have the highest percentage of convictions among defendants but Black and Asian defendants found guilty receive longer custodial sentences on average, and Black defendants – particularly Black males – are more likely to be remanded in custody.

There are a range of differences between ethnic groups regarding both physical and mental health.

The public sector is a major employer of ethnic minority workers, but ethnic minority employees are more concentrated among the lower grades or ranks.

So a rather complex picture overall that points to some disparities between groups and some distinct disadvantages experienced by Pakistani and Bangladeshi households, including one or two where the focus is on women in particular, but not really much to suggest in this report that Pakistani women are ‘shockingly badly integrated’ or ‘living in an entirely different society’. It’s a pity that sections of the press in this country preferred to base their reporting on a rickety quote from an unidentifiable source rather than wait and report calmly and soberly on the facts. Probably too much risk of people becoming informed rather than outraged.

Don’t like what you’re seeing in the press? If you see an article you’re unhappy with, you can email the press regulators at inquiries@ipso.co.uk to voice your concerns. If enough complaints are received, they will have to look into it.

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