Single Equality Commission plans will not deliver Fairness for All, says NATFHE

A new equality commission promising Fairness for All will fail to deliver, says NATFHE, the University & College Lecturers' Union. Government's proposals for a Commission for Equality and Human Rights will not tackle discrimination effectively without a single Equality Act giving legal protection to all groups who face discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, religion or belief and gender reassignment.

NATFHE has told the government that an Equality Act should come first, and that a single equality Commission should come into being as a result of the legislation. The union was responding to a consultation on the Equality and Human Rights Commission white paper, which ended today (Friday 6 August).

The union supports in principle the creation of a single equality commission, which would see the Commission for Racial, Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission abolished. An overarching body covering equality and human rights, and including other groups facing discrimination, would replace them. But NATFHE says it cannot give the current proposals its full backing because they do not meet essential criteria. These include
• establishing a separate body to deal with the complex issue of human rights.
• legislation which creates the same level of protection from discrimination for all groups and extends to all the positive duty to promote equality that now exists in the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000
• an over-arching structure that applies to all, but including separate sections for each strand of discrimination with their own unit, staff and budgets
• at least double the budget than is currently available to the three existing commissions
• assurances that all groups are treated equally
• broad representation of stakeholder groups, including trade unions.

Kate Heasman, NATFHE's Equality Official said:

‘It is a great pity that the concept of a single Equality Commission, so positive in itself, is being undermined by the Government's penny-pinching, muddled and inconsistent approach. What is needed is a clean slate approach to equality, originating in a single Equality Act. What we are offered is a patchwork of existing provisions, badly stitched together, which will please none of the interest groups.'