Birmingham is becoming a city split into poor ethnic minority areas and wealthy white middle-class suburbs, a damning new report warns. And the Birmingham Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report has drawn up a wide-ranging battleplan spearheaded by six main points to tackle the problems. Commissioned by the city council, the study investigated how organsations had responded to Sir William Macpherson's report into the murder of student Stephen Lawrence, pictured.
 It found that institutions and their leaders are falling to tackle racisim and racial inequality. The report warns that is potentially disastrous for Birmingham, leading to a divided city. It paints a picture where ethnic minorities may be socially excluded in deprived inner-city areas such as Handsworth And it warns that the problems could be reflected in cities across Britain. The six main recommendations for Birmingham were: *The city council and other bodies must produce an action plan within three months. *The council should take the lead in developing an anti-racist strategy. *An independent panel or Ombudsman should be set up by the council to investigate discrimination and racial harassment within the authority. *The education department should set and monitor ethnic minority recruitment targets for teachers and governors. *All institutions should have a costed and planned approach to recruit from ethnic minority backgrounds. *The council, with other organsations, should seek Home Office guidance on deaths in custody, including legal aid to help families mount legal challenges. Birmingham City Council Chief executive Michael Lyons said the action plan would be up within three months and its implentation would be reviewed in six months. He said the authority employed 19 per cent of its workforce from ethnic minority backgrounds but had a way to go in certain occupations and senior grades. Nobody has been convicted of killing Stepehen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in south-east London, in 1993. | 
