Press release from the Mayor or London
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MPs, legal experts, senior trade union representatives and leading figures representing a range of equality issues from disability and race to lesbian and gay rights, are taking part in a public debate at City Hall today, hosted by the Mayor of London, looking at the Green Paper on the future of anti-discrimination law.
The Green Paper has just been published for consultation and there is widespread concern that its proposals lack any incentives on the private sector to address inequality and discrimination. At the same time it could weaken measures in place in the public sector, setting back the advances that have been made over the last few years, particularly those made following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: 'The last decade has seen some important advances in equality law, for example in relation to sexual orientation, age and religion. The Green Paper backs away from strengthening measures to protect people in the private sector and drives a coach and horses through public sector duties. This Green Paper's proposals, if they were to be accepted, would leave millions without adequate protection. Some of the key improvements of recent years could be thrown into reverse. It fails to propose simple steps like mandatory pay audits - an important lever to ending pay inequality. This is not a strategy for tackling discrimination and needs to be reconsidered.'
Lee Jasper, Director Equalities and Policing said: 'The Discrimination Law Review represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve anti-discrimination law so it is fit for the purpose of tackling inequality. With no evidence whatsoever the Green Paper claims that public sector duties are not working and that better laws in the private sector are not needed. One very worrying example is the proposal to end race equality monitoring in the public sector. This would make it impossible to gauge whether discrimination was operating in the workplace. It is clearly necessary for everyone to make their views heard loud and clear in the consultation process.'
A wide range of opinion is being represented at the seminar, including: Abdurahman Jafar, Muslim Council of Britain; Angela Eagle MP; Angela Mason, Women and Equality Unit; Ben Summerskill, Stonewall; Caroline Gooding, Disability Rights Commission; Diane Abbott MP; Sheila Dent, Princess Royal Trust for Carers; Karon Monaghan, barrister; Kurban Haji, London Older People's Strategies Group; Michael Rubenstein, Equal Opportunities Review; Sarah Veale, Trades Union Congress; Razia Karim, Head of Legal Policy, Commission for Racial Equality.
Bert Massie, Chair, Disability Rights Commission, said: 'What the Green Paper proposes ignores most of the recommendations that have been made over the last year to improve the rights of disabled people. It proposes to virtually destroy the Disability Equality Duty. My approach to this Green Paper is that it does to disability rights what a bulldozer does to a building. Although there are a few new rights proposed on some other strands, on disability this is an appalling Green Paper. If it goes through as it is it will do enormous damage to disabled people and will unravel lot of successes of the last 10 years. I hope the government will think twice.'
Razia Karim, Head of Legal Policy, Commission for Racial Equality, said: 'The proposals in the Green Paper on the public sector duty with regard to race equality are a repudiation of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. We are seriously concerned by the proposals and are calling for a fundamental re-think.'
The Mayor of London believes a Single Equality Act needs to:
· Have a clear purpose: be clearly aimed at preventing structural discrimination and disadvantage;
· Be comprehensive: ensure protection against discrimination covers all grounds and all areas of people's lives;
· Level upwards: the highest levels of legal protection should be build upon;
· Promote equality as a positive duty, extending public sector duties across all strands facing discrimination in practical, meaningful, measurable, accountable ways, with publicly-available equality schemes; and propose how these values can apply in other sectors;
· Protect the most vulnerable: such as by extending protection against discrimination to carers through a non-discrimination right in law, providing protection of the law to vulnerable workers and extending and strengthening rights to flexible working;
· Take precedence: by removing or reducing areas currently exempted from anti-discrimination law;
· Have meaningful tools to ensure change: such as mandatory equal pay audits, stronger mechanisms for positive action, monitoring and intervention to correct discrimination;
· Ensure equality in procurement: through a mandatory duty on public bodies to promote equality through the process of procurement;
· Deliver an improved framework of enforcement and access to justice: allowing for representative legal actions, a workable tribunal system for all types of discrimination cases and remedies to deter discrimination.