The human rights watchdog in Northern Ireland presented its advice on a Bill of Rights. It made a number of recommendations for inclusion in a Bill of Rights, such as: the right to equality and prohibition of discrimination; education rights; freedom from violence, exploitation and harassment; the rights of victims; the right to identity and culture; language rights; democratic rights; the right to liberty; and fair trial rights.
Source: A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland: Advice to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (028 9024 3987)
Links: Report | NIHRC press release | NICCY press release | Christian Institute press release | FPA press release
Date: 2008-Dec
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans for an Equality Bill. The Bill would ban secrecy clauses in work contracts which forbade staff comparing wages, in an effort to equalize men's and women's pay. It would ban discrimination against older people in the provision of goods, facilities, and services.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 3 December 2008, columns 8-9, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | GEO press release | Fawcett Society press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | EDCM press release | Help the Aged press release | EFA press release | CIPD press release | REC press release | MCB press release | Community Care report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Dec
A paper considered whether measurement of government activity should incorporate distributional considerations in its estimates of the productivity of public services, and if so how.
Source: Richard Jones, Incorporating Equality Considerations into Measures of Public Service Output, UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity/Office for National Statistics (web publication only)
Links: Paper
Date: 2008-Nov
In 2008 only 149 out of 19,617 councillors across England were minority-ethnic women, compared with 164 in 2006. But the number of white women councillors increased by 283 over the same period to 5,606 – making up nearly one-third of all councillors.
Source: National Census of Local Authority Councillors in England 2008, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2008-Nov
A report (by an official advisory body) examined equality, diversity, and the built environment. Disadvantaged people were far more likely to live in poor-quality environments. Social, cultural, and economic inequalities were still being literally built into new places. Planners and designers needed to examine more closely the impact of their decisions.
Source: Inclusion by Design: Equality, diversity and the built environment, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (020 7960 2400)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Nov
An article said that evolving equality policy in Britain showed little evidence of drawing upon comparative experience. Both fair employment policy in Northern Ireland and employment equity in Canada offered approaches significantly more radical than in Britain: but key policy documents showed little appetite for engaging with these examples.
Source: Robert Osborne, 'Emerging equality policy in Britain in comparative context: a missed opportunity?', Public Money and Management, Volume 28 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Oct
The public appointments watchdog annual report for 2007-08 showed decreases in the number of appointments or reappointments of women, disabled people, or candidates from an ethnic minority background to more than 1,000 public bodies.
Source: Annual Report 2007/08, Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (020 7276 2625)
Links: Report | OCPA press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Oct
The government published its plans for delivering the public service agreement on equality (announced for the first time in the 2007 Pre-Budget Report). The agreement called for a reduction in the pay gap for women; improved choice and control for disabled people; greater participation in public life for disadvantaged groups a reduction in workplace discrimination; and a better understanding of, and ability to measure, fair treatment in the delivery of public services.
Source: Delivering the Equality PSA 2008-2011, Government Equalities Office (020 7944 0601)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Sep
A report highlighted the gaps in information on equality at local level, and outlined a number of pragmatic approaches for developing it.
Source: Amanda Tuke, Measuring Equality at a Local Level, Improvement and Development Agency (020 7296 6693)
Date: 2008-Sep
The government announced new measures to increase the number of women, disabled people, and minority ethnic people appointed to the boards of public bodies. It said that it intended to increase the number of women appointees from 34.4 per cent to at least 40 per cent by 2011, and also set new targets on race and disability.
Source: Press release 14 July 2008, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Cabinet Office press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Jul
The government published a strategy for the promotion of diversity and equality within the civil service.
Source: Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity: A strategy for the civil service, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Strategy | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Jul
The government published the results of consultation on the Equality Bill. A new equality duty would be placed on public bodies, bringing together the three existing duties in relation to race, disability, and gender, and in addition encompassing gender reassignment, age, sexual orientation, and religion or belief.
Source: The Equality Bill: Government Response to the Consultation, Cm 7454, Government Equalities Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A new book examined how new dimensions of diversity and difference were emerging at the neighbourhood level. Topics covered included new immigration, religion and social capital, faith schools, labour and housing market disconnexions, neighbourhood territoriality, information technology and neighbourhood construction, and gated communities.
Source: John Flint and David Robinson (eds.), Community Cohesion in Crisis? New dimensions of diversity and difference, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that firms that took steps to improve diversity in the workplace earned real business benefits.
Source: Talent Not Tokenism: The business benefits of workforce diversity, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294) and Confederation of British Industry
Links: Report | TUC/CBI press release | Cabinet Office press release | EHRC press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Jun
Researchers examined the attitudes and job search behaviours of senior managers in the civil service who were from under-represented groups – including women, those with a long-term health condition or disability, and those from ethnic minorities.
Source: Hulya Hooker, Nick Jagger and Susanna Baldwin, Recruitment of Under-represented Groups into the Senior Civil Service, Research Report 512, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Jun
The Scottish Government published a scheme setting out the the steps it would take to progress its gender equality objectives.
Source: Gender Equality Scheme 2008-2011, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Scheme
Date: 2008-Jun
The government published the first draft of an Equality Bill, designed to streamline and strengthen discrimination legislation, including banning age discrimination in the provision of goods and services. The Bill would give public bodies an overarching equality duty, requiring them to publish statistics on their gender pay gaps, as well as employment levels in respect of ethnic minorities and disabled people. The disclosure requirement would also apply to private firms bidding for government contracts. The new law would allow employers to take limited positive action, by preferring a candidate from a disadvantaged group to other candidates as long as they were equally qualified for the job.
Source: Framework for a Fairer Future: The Equality Bill, Cm 7431, Government Equalities Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Bill | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | EHRC press release | TUC press release | Fawcett Society press release | Help the Aged/Age Concern press release | TAEN press release | Mind press release | BHA press release | Carers UK press release | YWCA press release | Citizens Advice press release | ACPO press release | CBI press release | REC press release | CIPD press release | ABI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | FT report (3) | Community Care report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Jun
The government announced the creation of a National Equality Taskforce, consisting of leading academics and researchers. The Taskforce would investigate the relationship between gender, race, disability, and other aspects of inequality, such as income and social class. It would produce an independent report on its findings late in 2009.
Source: Speech by Harriet Harman MP (Minister for Women and Equality), 14 June 2008
Links: EHRC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jun
The government announced (in the draft Queen's Speech) plans to introduce an Equality Bill, designed to introduce a single equality duty, which would require public bodies to consider the diverse needs and requirements of their workforce, and the communities they served, when developing employment policies and when planning services. Existing positive action measures would also be extended to allow employers to make their organization or business more representative and reflective of the people they served; and to allow public bodies to deliver services in a more effective way to disadvantaged groups.
Source: Preparing Britain for the Future: The government's draft legislative programme, Cm 7372, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Queens Speech | Amendments | EHRC press release | TUC press release | Fawcett Society press release | CIPD press release | REC press release | Help the Aged press release | EFD press release
Date: 2008-May
A report examined the role for local government in promoting equality and diversity.
Source: Lucy de Groot and Angela Mason (eds.), How Equality Shapes Place: Diversity and localism, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Mangers (0845 652 4010)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-May
Researchers examined the relationship between business performance and equal opportunities policies and practices, and evaluated the effects of a range of equal opportunities policies and practices on workplace productivity and profits. Overall, it was found to be unlikely that business benefits were large and widespread among the establishments who implemented the policies concerned.
Source: Rebecca Riley, Hilary Metcalf and John Forth, The Business Case for Equal Opportunities: An econometric investigation, Research Report 483, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Apr
The National Statistician published an overview report on social diversity. People were better off, on average, than they had been 20 years previously in terms of overall trends in economic well-being, health, education, and employment. Some progress had also been made in reducing inequality (equal pay for women and educational attainment for some ethnic minority groups, for example): but there were also a number of other examples – for particular ethnic groups, disabled people, and socio-economic groups – where disadvantages had persisted.
Source: Karen Dunnell (National Statistician), Diversity and Different Experiences in the UK, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | ONS press release | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Apr
An annual survey of social attitudes found that a substantial minority of people thought that equal opportunity measures for different groups in society had 'gone too far'. One-third of people (36 per cent) thought that equal opportunity measures for black and Asian people had gone too far, although only 6 per cent thought this in relation to disabled people. The most commonly admitted prejudice related to age.
Source: Chris Creegan and Chloe Robinson, 'Prejudice and the workplace' in Alison Park, John Curtice, Katarina Thomson, Miranda Phillips and Mark Johnson (eds.), British Social Attitudes: The 24th Report, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary | NatCen press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2008-Jan
A think-tank report examined the 'new identity politics' – the idea that more needed to be done to foster a common sense of belonging and shared civic identities – and its potential for furthering liberal and social democratic goals.
Source: Ben Rogers and Rick Muir, The Power of Belonging: Identity, citizenship and community cohesion, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Jan
An article examined the monitoring of 'identity groups'. Respondent burden, concerns about confidentiality and disclosure, and the lack in some cases of benchmark data raised issues around the feasibility of monitoring multiple 'equality strands'. As most organizations had limited capacity to undertake such analysis, a broader repertoire of approaches needed to be considered if the process were to be more than a 'meaningless bureaucratic exercise'.
Source: Peter Aspinall and Lavinia Mitton, '"Kinds of people" and equality monitoring in the UK', Policy & Politics, Volume 36 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jan