Len Tingle Political Editor BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

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Bradford City Hall

'Well I have been doing this for 15 years, there is really not much else I can do,' says taxi driver Ashraf Ali as he drove Len Tingle and the Politics Show camera crew around Bradford city centre.

"I would love to be a teacher. I came over here from Karachi with the equivalent of O-levels as a young man in the 1970s but had to go straight into the catering trade and then into taxis."

"But I think things are changing. My daughter is in her 20s and a nurse.

"My son works in a pharmacy and my daughter is doing well in junior school - she is 11."

Ashraf Ali: I would love to be a teacher

Ashraf's optimism for the future life of his family is set against a city centre which is rapidly improving in Bradford.

These days his taxi has to thread its way between huge building sites.

City centre renewal

Dilapidated office and retail blocks are being demolished to make way for brand new shopping centres and public open spaces.

However, there are also voices saying that far more work needs to be done to ensure the substantial Asian community, largely of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin, can also enjoy the benefits of an improved Bradford.

Dr Mohammad Ali: worries over achievement rates of Pakistani youngsters

"Seventy per cent are leaving school with no qualifications; youth unemployment is three times the district average and those entering self-employment are still mainly concentrated in narrow sectors, such as independent retail and taxi driving," says Dr Mohammad Ali of the Bradford-based QED organisation.

It was set up a decade ago to raise the prospects for small businesses and the local Asian community.

"Third and fourth generation Bradford residents of Pakistani origin now form a quarter of the city's workforce.

Despite this, the number of British Pakistanis employed in senior or management roles in all sectors of the local economy is woefully low".

Asian success

At Bradford College the Principal, Michele Sutton, says much work has been done to encourage young people from the Asian Community to gain further and higher education qualifications.

Management and teaching staff at the college are far more multicultural now than ever before.

Michele Sutton: cannot ignore economic factors

"We have to make education relevant and we believe that significant progress has been made.

"However, we cannot ignore this area's economic problems which are hitting all communities.

"In fact, the latest statistics show that the group who are currently most at risk of leaving education without any qualifications at all are white males on the poorest estates."

Bradford College students optimistic that their futures are in their hands

As for the confidence of students at the Collage from the Asian Community?

Barriers down

A group filmed by the Politics Show cameras were confident that conditions were now in place for them to use their qualifications as effectively as any other young person.

"My parents were much more concerned about earning a living than the sort of work they did," said one.

"As far as I am concerned, it is up to me to achieve my ambitions. If I do well here I can succeed."

"It does not worry me that the big agencies I want to join seem to be staffed mostly by white people.

"I would be happy to be the first Asian manager."

The Politics Show

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