BBC NEWS | UK | Muslims and the state: Key findings

Warwick University's Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations has published a report into British Muslims and state policies.

It attacks the government for failures in how the state engages with the UK's two million Muslims.

While it said there were examples of services with good practices, the report concluded the state's approach to the needs of Muslims remains inadequate and inconsistent.

Key findings:

The legal system faced the most criticism from those interviewed. Interviewees called for legislation to specifically outlaw religious discrimination, providing Muslims with the same legal protection as Sikhs and Jews.

There were mixed feelings on the police. Many interviewees said they feared the police were prejudiced against them. Others praised some forces for allowing Muslim women officers to wear headscarves.

Health and social services were praised for recognising the needs of Muslims. One example praised in the report was a NHS department which took account of religious holidays when offering appointments.

In London, Greenwich was praised for developing home care services specifically recognising the religious concerns of the area's Muslim clients.

Local councils were praised for having higher political representation of Muslims and for taking into account the importance of Ramadan for Muslim employees.

The report attacked national and regional political bodies for failing "dismally" to represent Muslim Britain. It criticised the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and London Assembly for having no elected Muslims and Westminster for having only two Muslim MPs.

Many of the Muslims criticised education and schools.

They believed more should be done to tackle underachievement and criticised schools for not offering prayer space, Halal food or assistance for those fasting for Ramadan.

The authors said schools lacked a sufficient number of Muslim teachers acting as role models.

Some of the recommendations:

The authors called for the government to outlaw religious discrimination

Employers should be obliged to monitor religious affiliation as part of equal opportunities provisions

Employers and other bodies should allow Muslims time and space for prayer and other religious obligations

Central government should begin a programme of accelerated recruitment of Muslims to rectify under-representation

Muslims themselves should become more active in their links with other faiths

There should be a commission into the legal and constitutional role of religion in multi-faith Britain


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