Equality Bill

A substantive part of the Equality and Diversity Research Network Meeting on the 3^rd of July focused on the new Equality Bill and the Policy Proposals for specific duties, as any responses to it have to be submitted by the 30^th of September 2009.  There was an intense debate by the members who attended the meeting on the specific and general duties outlined by the Policy proposal  and areas that are being omitted, overlooked, dropped or excluded such as the equalities provisions not being applicable to those under 18.  Chapters four and five were highlighted as being of particular interest.

There was also a worry that local authorities could read the Bill in such a way that instead of mainstreaming equality of opportunity within all their structures, they would focus on what they can actually demonstrate they have achieved.  In essence, fostering a tick box compliance culture that has little real benefit.  It was felt that this would be especially prevalent in rural areas where mainstreaming could be dismissed as unworkable in a number of situations.

Several members of the group proposed that they collaborate on producing a brief on the Equality Bill and the , links to appropriate documentation and a draft response.  These will be disseminated to the network members for comment and the finalised response will be submitted in due course on behalf of the network.  If you would like to be formally identified as a member of the network in this response please e-mail Karen Leeming who will be collating the list.  You may also want to consider submitting a personal response to the Equality Bill.  The points raised and the proposed outcomes from the rest of the meeting will be available shortly.

Please contribute to the debate on this blog..