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00:07Hello again from the Midlands and as I mentioned earlier on we're talking about
00:11this year's census today what will it tell us about ourselves you and me the
00:16people of the Midlands and how will its findings shape government policy well
00:20I'll be getting the thoughts today of two MPs Paul Upple for the Conservatives
00:24and Khalid Mahmood for labor the census has quite a record of shaping human
00:31history behind it after all it's what brought an expectant Mary to Nazareth
00:352,000 years ago the first census here in England and Wales within 1801 when the
00:41population was just 9 million 10 years ago was 52 million so when this next head
00:47count takes place on Sunday the 27th of March what will you learn about our part
00:52of the country well in Birmingham the number of white children is expected to
00:56fall below half for the first time although the city overall isn't expected
01:00to become minority white for at least another 13 years well our reporter Ben
01:05Godfrey has been delving back in time and through to the present day a school
01:13sports day in Birmingham in 1914 it's a race where every competitors white now
01:20almost a century on schools like Chadvale primary in Edgbaston are champions of
01:25multiculturalism here there are 20 different languages spoken and just a
01:30fifth of pupils are white I think as a city should be very proud Birmingham that in
01:35fact it is it has this this way of welcoming anyone that comes to the city
01:41makes them feel welcome makes them feel cherished and then expects them to
01:46contribute to the Birmingham way in 2006 in Birmingham 53 percent of children
01:51from birth to 16 were white but this year's census is expected to show it's
01:56fallen to 47 percent forecasts also show that by 2024 Birmingham as a whole will
02:03have a minority white population latest government figures already showed that 43
02:08percent of children in Birmingham council schools are white making this group a
02:12minority nothing sudden it's all progressive and we would be lax if we
02:18weren't looking at trends and progressions as it goes through so if a
02:21cumulative effect isn't a sudden effect to us we're working all the time as it
02:25changes adjusting our way we deal with thing studies suggest there's a close
02:30balance between the numbers of births and deaths in Birmingham what's making a
02:34significant difference a parts of the white community leaving the city and the
02:38groups like Chinese and African communities growing fast the professor
02:45behind the Birmingham study says public services will be prepared for the
02:49changes you see teachers and nurses and frontline staff in the health services
02:55already know that they deal with every what is an individual and they don't need a
02:59label hanging around everybody's neck to implement that and to treat people equally
03:08I joined Mohammed Aklak and son Ibrahim at their home the Pakistani community in
03:14Birmingham will still be smaller than the white population here but numbers are
03:18expected to double over the next 20 years largely because of a younger age
03:23profile within our communities the marrying of early age that will actually
03:28have a lot of influence on the on the census and and the community getting
03:34getting larger and bigger I mean for instance on on one road we've got 15 16
03:39houses for immediate family who actually live on one road the 2011 census will not
03:47just serve as a cultural record it'll help shape public policy I don't know
03:52whether you've got some people who may have some language problems or may need some
03:55help with them Paul Glover's advising the YMCA in Sutton Coldfield he's one of
04:00three and a half thousand people in the West Midlands who collects census data in
04:04March he's targeting the harder to reach communities there's leaflets available
04:09supporting leaflets in over 50 languages and also we'll have a number of
04:13collectors on the streets and we're trying to recruit those from the local
04:16communities and make sure they can communicate readily with the people who
04:19open the doors to them you could argue you don't need a census to tell you
04:26Birmingham's cosmopolitan and increasingly diverse it's certainly captivating the
04:31imagination of its children the future workforce in Europe's youngest city
04:38amazing thought Ben Godfrey reporting and just for the record I by the way I'm a
04:43white Brummie and I'm joined here today by Paul up all the conservative MP for
04:48Wolverhampton South West is a member of our local Sikh community Khalid Mahmood who
04:52when he was elected Labour MP for Birmingham Perry bar 10 years ago became our
04:56region's first Muslim MP so here we are three typical Midlanders really we heard
05:01Khalid in that report the the head used the expression the Birmingham way what
05:06exactly do you understand by the Birmingham way is integrating and welcoming
05:10people from the Irish community when the first came in from the Caribbean
05:13community when the first came in and then the Asian community that came in I
05:16think Birmingham is a way of accepting people and moving on and integrating them
05:20into being Burmese but the signs are that the Pakistani community will double in
05:24size over the next 20 years so the signs are that certain sections of the
05:29community are growing much faster than others and frankly many people at home
05:32watching today will be alarmed by this I think there is also one of the
05:37largest concentrations of the Pakistani communities in in Birmingham and that's
05:41possibly why because you have a larger figures like you have a large community
05:43and therefore that and I think also what you have is when you have new
05:47communities coming in they tend to sort of grow at the rate of they were growing
05:51previously and then it starts to settle down I see signs currently where that
05:55community is coming starting to gonna start but we did here in the report the
05:58Pakistani families typically start younger than white families and have much
06:03larger extended families typically oh huge I mean yeah much much larger extended
06:07families a lot a lot greater inward in inter sort of links which provides better
06:12better support for everybody I think your co-chairman Paul up all by nas
06:17varsu this week entered this debate by saying that anti-muslim sentiment was
06:21becoming increasingly socially acceptable she complained that it passed what she
06:26called the dinner party test was this a helpful intervention in your view given
06:30what's going on in the in cities like this one well I think it's important if
06:33we are part of the debate on here for people to be as honest and as frank as
06:37they can be about this I think she expressed a certain view what I think is
06:41important that community groups and faith groups do actually come together and
06:45actually tackle misunderstandings and maybe misconceptions here for example
06:50after the 9-11 tragedy two people killed in the US they both happen to be
06:55Sikhs so there's an awful lot of prejudice and misunderstanding on this
06:58issue as well I don't know whether you heard but but this week on BBC WM's hard
07:03talk program a local imam Shaq Azra Rashid said that he didn't feel any loyalty to
07:09the quote to the Queen and he thought that because of Iraq and Afghanistan
07:12British Muslims should not sign up for the armed forces do you think that was a
07:16helpful observation given what Baroness of us has been saying this way well no is
07:21the short answer to that if my own example if you look at this Patrick I have a
07:24Christian name of Paul and a Sikh surname I'm a combination of two cultures
07:29that's the way I live my life and I think that's the best of Birmingham and
07:32the best of British contribution well I think very unhelpful I don't think the
07:37guy can be seen as an imam I know the guy I know the family and really is young
07:42lad who have just helped get out of Saudi Arabia because he happened to get
07:45himself into trouble when he was in Saudi Arabia so these sort of people when the
07:49media takes on I think you have to be mindful of their credentials what one
07:53interesting thing that he did say was that he would like to see more white
07:56people moving into areas like Sparkbrook there is too much segregation
08:00looking around Birmingham and you're an MP in Wolverhampton there is too much
08:04ethnic segregation surely he's got a point there I think that's that that's a
08:07valid point I think what we do need to do is particularly the housing policies
08:11where where the council has something to deal with it we should try to integrate
08:15communities quick word on this from you Paul I think my communities come
08:17together it breaks down those misconceptions I have three children they have
08:22white friends they come along they all eat together they don't visualize
08:25anybody as Asian or anybody as white they're just British and they're
08:28actually Midlanders well very interesting discussion we'll return to
08:32it shortly but let's just press the pause button at the moment for them thank you
08:36both very much indeed and we'd like to know what you think about this at home
08:41these changing populations whichever section of the community you belong to the
08:45cost of nearly half a billion pounds with this census tell us really what we know
08:50already that's the question today call us on 0 8 4 5 300 11 38 not forgetting to
08:55tell us your name and where you're calling from or you can email us at
08:59politics show Westmids at bbc.co.uk I'll have some of your comments some of your
09:05thoughts a little later in the program
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