The Social Integration Commission, a major independent enquiry into the UK’s increasing diversity, has issued its third and final report, entitled ‘Kingdom United? Thirteen steps to tackle social segregation’.  The Social Integration Commission, Chaired by RSA’s Matthew Taylor, has been supported by the Challenge Trust over the past year.

The first report asked ‘How integrated is Modern Britain?’ The second outlined the costs and consequences of the lack of social integration.  This final report explores what can be done to promote social mixing and sets out 13 principles that the Commission believes should underpin a healthy and well-integrated society.

The report builds on the Commission’s previous research and makes a series of practical recommendations to promote a more integrated and socially cohesive society. The Commission has also identified two specific areas where urgent and immediate action is required to boost social mixing. Firstly, the Commission calls on the Department for Education to only approve applications for new faith schools when the petitioners have a clear plan for pupils to meet and mix with children from different faith backgrounds and communities. Additionally, the report states that the DfE should investigate requiring all schools to devise a social mixing strategy.     Second, the Commission calls on all local authorities to ban the installation of ‘poor doors’ and ‘rich gates’ in their areas. Along with calling on the Department of Communities and Local Government to introduce a requirement for councils to consider whether proposed major developments would allow people from different backgrounds to meet and mix and to reject planning applications which do not pass this test.

The Commission’s first report, issued in June 2014, revealed the extent of a lack of social integration within Britain. The Commission’s second report, launched in October 2014, established that the costs to the UK economy as a result of social segregation were £6bn.  It also warned that unless social mixing was further encouraged gated communities could become the norm and levels of trust would plummet.   For more information visit: http://socialintegrationcommission.org.uk