The good work of the Swansea Bay Racial Equality Council is under threat due to changes to their funding, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black has said.
Mr. Black has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Welsh Minister for Social Justice, asking them to intervene so as to prevent Swansea Bay Racial Equality Council losing a large chunk of its funding for the first half of 2009. The organisation has been told that a significant amount of money which they use to fund core activities, including the salary of their director, will no longer be available to them next year. This amounted to £30,000 in the current year.
"The merger of six organisations to form the new Equality and Human Rights Commission has created a huge amount of uncertainty amongst the organisations that this body funds," said Mr. Black. "We are now in a situation whereby Welsh organisations have to compete with their English counterparts for the same pot of money meaning that Welsh priorities are not being met. This means that smaller organisations like the Swansea Bay Racial Equality Council will lose out to the big English Cities."
"I have written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ask them to reconsider their decision and their criteria for grants, and I have also written to the Welsh Assembly Government to ask them to help the organisation through this difficult time. I would like the Minister to talk to the Commission about setting up a pot of money for Welsh organisations to bid for, so that Welsh priorities do not lose out."
