The school history curriculum will be rewritten in the wake of a controversial race report which said pupils should be taught that slavery was not just about “profit and suffering”.

Last year, Dr Tony Sewell – founder of Generating Genius, a charity that helps black children access higher education – was commissioned by Downing Street to investigate racial disparity in British society. He chaired the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities and concluded in his report: “We no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities.”

Following its publication, the report was quietly amended following a backlash over its claim that: “There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain.”

At the time of publication last year, the report sparked claims of a “whitewash” from MPs and charities. The United Nations working group on human rights condemned it as “reprehensible”.

However, the Government has now published its long-awaited and official response, billed as a “landmark” strategy to tackle racial and ethnic disparities and ensure fairness in the UK.

Inclusive Britain report

In its report, entitled Inclusive Britain, a new strategy with 70 actions is set out. This includes policing reforms, targeted support for children at risk and a new “model history curriculum”, as well as action on the ethnicity pay gap. 

Officials are currently establishing “a diverse panel of historians” to develop “a new knowledge-rich model history curriculum by 2024 to support high-quality teaching of our complex past”. 

Further detail on the new curriculum and overall strategy will be announced by Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, in the House of Commons on Thursday. 

Ms Badenoch said ahead of the report’s publication on Thursday: “I strongly believe that Britain is the fairest and most open-minded country in the world, but there is more we can do to foster inclusion and enable everyone to reach their full potential. 

“We are building trust through improving police scrutiny, promoting fairness in the workplace with new evidence-based resources that work, tackling serious youth violence which disproportionately affects certain communities, and fostering inclusion by designing a new model history curriculum telling the story of the making of modern Britain.

“The causes behind racial disparities are complex and often misunderstood. Our new strategy is about action, not rhetoric and will help create a country where a person’s race, social or ethnic background is no barrier to achieving their ambitions.”