I’m delighted to be here today to present these awards, and to acknowledge the commitment of so many people in Britain to tackling racism and building confidence.

That’s what the National Mentoring Consortium and its Director, Norman McLean, are all about.

Championing the cause of real equality of opportunity. Inspiring hope in a better future, a better Britain.

And it’s about more than that as well. Taking on and eliminating discrimination, wherever it is to be found, however subtle or indirect it may be.

I share Norman’s commitment. But I know we have a long way to go before we can say that Britain is a truly tolerant society.

I believe that tackling racism and inequality means confronting the truth about ourselves, our professions and our institutions.

Everyone in Britain, regardless of where they live, regardless of the colour of their skin, should have access to the opportunities which were the preserve of too few for far too long.

That’s what genuine equality is about. Everyone should have confidence in the society they live in. From feeling safe on the streets to being respected by Britain’s institutions.

Respected at school and university. In your place of work. By the local council or jobcentre. By the police and the criminal justice system.

Too often that is not the case.

While people from ethnic minorities are benefiting from Britain’s growing prosperity, they are doing so at a slower rate and starting from a lower economic base.

We are committed to extending opportunity and security to all in our society. Everyone should have the chance to make full use of their talents.

That means tackling prejudice wherever it exists. None of us should doubt the size of the task. And none of us should underestimate the importance of the cause.

Next week the Social Exclusion Unit will publish a report on ethnic minority issues which brings together all the work on race we have done in our National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.

Being from an ethnic minority background, you are more likely to live in a deprived area.

You are more likely to be poor. You are more likely to suffer from ill-health and to be a victim of crime.

Being from an ethnic minority background, you are twice as likely to be unemployed – despite being more likely than white people to stay on in higher or further education:

• In 1998, 79% of ethnic minority people were in education or training at 18, compared to 67% of their white contemporaries.

• But an African-Caribbean graduate is more than twice as likely to be unemployed than a white person with ‘A’ levels.

• If you are an African man with a degree, you are seven times more likely to be unemployed than a graduate who is white and male.

Ethnic minority communities can experience what I call the ‘double bind.’ They are disproportionately concentrated in deprived areas and experience all the problems that affect other people in these areas.

On top of that, they also suffer the consequences of racial discrimination. There can be language and cultural barriers to getting access to information and services – and those services themselves may not meet their needs.

Later this month the People’s Panel publishes the first results of its survey of how people from ethnic minorities feel treated by the state.

These will show that alarming numbers – 1 in 6 – feel discriminated against by public services.

Sometimes it’s down to rudeness, to being ignored or badly served. In a quarter of cases, it involves verbal racist abuse.

Whatever the reason, there is no excuse. And there can be no place for it if we are to build a genuinely fair and enterprising society where everyone has opportunities.

That’s what brought me into politics in the first place: a fundamental belief in equality. In making sure that everyone has a chance.

And part of my job as Government Co-ordinator is to make sure that we deliver true equality for the civil service.

We’ve got to get our own house in order – as an employer and in the services we provide.

That’s why the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill, currently before Parliament, is so important.

It will outlaw direct and indirect discrimination in all functions of public bodies. And it will place a positive duty on all public authorities to promote race equality.

We must send the clearest message from government yet that discrimination is never acceptable and will be never tolerated.

In the civil service, we want to see more people from ethnic minorities joining us. Within 4 years, we aim to double the number of senior civil servants from ethnic minority backgrounds.

And later this year we will launch the Central Development Programme to train 80 of the most talented ethnic minority staff at middle management levels and prepare them for the top ranks.

Each participant will be matched with a senior mentor who will give them the support and the skills to fulfil their true potential.

But it’s not just at the top that the right balance is important – which is why we’re going to set similar targets for the rest of the civil service.

We’re encouraging ethnic minority school children and university students to take up work experience opportunities. And more and more staff are volunteering to spread that message.

We have appointed Faisal Naru, a young ethnic minority graduate, to visit students and promote the Civil Service and the Fast Stream.

On the back of the success of last year, we are now going to hold a Civil Service Ethnic Minority careers fair every summer.

And Museji Ahmed Takolia is our new Senior Adviser to help us increase recruitment and secondment from ethnic minority communities and drive through change.

Secondments are another important way of changing the culture. Not just because it brings in new faces and fresh ideas from business, the voluntary sector or trade unions, but also because it exposes civil servants to new experiences and ways of working.

The Interchange programme is leading the way in this area and we want to see more exchanges – to our mutual benefit.

I’m very keen to see more mentoring programmes. As a young woman MP, I was initially quite sceptical about mentoring and things like ‘take your daughter to work’ day.

I’m happy to admit I’ve changed my mind. The reason? I no longer doubt how important role models can be for young kids growing up and deciding what they want to do.

Mentoring programmes give them valuable contact with the unknown world of work. And that can offer them that most precious thing: confidence.

Some people are born into families where confidence is bred from an early age. For many others, who aren’t so lucky, a lack of confidence can inhibit and frustrate them for the rest of their lives.

If we are to build a truly equal society, it is crucial to change attitudes. For any change to be successful, it’s got to be inclusive. Buy-in from people on the ground is essential.

Looking at the experience in this room, I’m sure we have a lot to learn from you – trade unions, organisations large and small in the private and the voluntary sector – about what works, what gets results.

I want to see more diversity all over public life. Not just in the Civil Service or in parliament or on local councils, but in appointments to quangos, health trusts, advisory bodies, and task forces.

If we are serious when we say that we want Britain to be a beacon to the world as a successful multi-racial society, we have to deliver.

And if we fail to change, we fail the people of Britain and what their future can be.

A future which values diversity. A Britain which is strong because it is various, and strong because it is at one with itself.

When I think of what Britain can be, I don’t have visions of spinsters on boneshakers and foaming warm beer. That’s not a picture that rings true for anyone I know. It doesn’t tell the whole story.

Society is bigger than that. Britain is better than that.

Society is dynamic, ever-changing, multiple. It’s alive. It’s full of hopes for the future.

It’s aspirational, wanting the best for its nearest and dearest. Not wanting to live in a world marred by crime or by violence, by fear or by hate.

In a word, it’s about people. In all their inspiring individuality and in all the things they share together.