Stephen Lawrence was murdered in south London

The study, published on Wednesday, was compiled by police, prosecution service and Executive representatives, as well as members of the black and Asian communities.

Its proposals will be considered by Mr Wallace before he decides how to respond to them.

He said: "I believe that the result reflects my view that we have come a long way in the past two years and that the steering group has made an invaluable contribution to this progress providing outside scrutiny of the work of the police, Crown Office and others.

"But it is clear that much remains to be done. The handling of the murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar reminds us starkly of that.

"The actions laid out in this review, and the recommendations produced by the chief inspector of constabulary in his report, Without Prejudice?, provide a challenging list of practical actions which the police, Crown Office, Executive and others can address over the coming months and beyond."

Jim Wallace: Welcomed the report

The report called for "performance indicators" for tackling racism to be given to police and other public sector bodies.

And it said beat police officers had to understand what a racist incident was, adding: "The police should expand the use of the Lothian and Borders force's 'credit card' aide memoire for officers."

The card is given to every officer in the force and details how to deal with an alleged racist incident.

The group also said a Scottish version of guidance to tackling hate crime given to English police should be produced.

There was also a call for national standards for interpreters for people who do not speak English to be established, and an investigation into how provision varies across Scotland.