A report by a committee of MSPs said that a campaign was needed to tackle misinformation about migrants, and to highlight the economic and social benefits that they brought to Scotland.
Source: Inquiry into Migration and Trafficking, 5th Report 2010, SP Paper 543, Scottish Parliament Equal Opportunities Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release | Amnesty press release | SRC press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A report examined a range of perspectives (from a series of consultation events) on the barriers to full realization of workplace equality rights and possible new solutions to bridge the gap. It recommended that policy-makers and public bodies should: increase the availability, accessibility, and relevance of equality guidance; build the capacity of third sector equality advice providers; use public sector buying powers to influence the private sector to focus their attention on equality; and 'name and shame' persistently non-compliant employers.
Source: Frances McAndrew, Workplace Equality: Turning Policy Into Practice, Equality and Diversity Forum
Links: Report | EDF press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A new book examined the challenges that diversity posed for European democracies, and how best to respond to the claims of individuals or groups who felt that their values or beliefs were not treated fairly by the law.
Source: Gideon Calder and Emanuela Ceva (eds.), Diversity in Europe: Dilemmas of differential treatment in theory and practice, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Dec
A report for the equal rights watchdog reviewed a pilot project that explored how voluntary organizations that worked in the equalities field were using human rights concepts, language, and tools.
Source: Sanchita Hosali and Amanda Ariss, Human Rights and Equality in the Voluntary Sector, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report | BIHR press release
Date: 2010-Dec
The new government published its equality strategy. It said that the strategy involved a new approach – not built on 'bureaucracy' but aimed at changing culture and attitudes, tackling the causes of inequality, and building a society where equality was everyone's responsibility. The government could not and would not do this by 'dictating from the centre'. It set out a new role for government – promoting equality through transparency and behaviour change, and by working with businesses, the voluntary sector, and wider civil society.
Source: The Equality Strategy – Building a Fairer Britain, Government Equalities Office
Links: Strategy | GEO press release | Hansard | ATL press release | CBI press release | IOD press release | REC press release | PinkNews report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government announced a 'radical new approach' to equalities that rejected 'political correctness' and 'social engineering'. It would tackle inequality by treating people as individuals rather than labelling them in groups, and ending the 'top-down' approach that saw Whitehall trying to impose equality from above. It announced that the 'socio-economic duty' under the 2010 Equality Act – requiring public bodies in England and Wales to have regard to the impact of their policies on social and economic inequalities – would be scrapped. A measure in the Freedom Bill would allow people who were prosecuted for having consensual gay sex at a time when this was illegal to apply to have their convictions deleted from criminal records.
Source: Speech by Theresa May MP (Minister for Women and Equality), 17 November 2010
Links: Text of speech | GEO press release | Conservative Party press release | Labour Party press release | Hansard | BHA press release | CPAG press release | LGF press release | Community Care report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Nov
A report for the equal rights watchdog examined the role of local strategic partnerships and local area agreements in promoting equalities.
Source: Hilary Russell, The Role of Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreements in Promoting Equalities, Research Report 63, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
A report examined whether the economic recession was having a differential impact upon individuals and groups in Scotland with 'protected characteristics' covered by equalities legislation. Unemployment among young people and among minority-ethnic groups had increased faster than for other groups. The recovery of employment was predicted to be slower for women and for those with work-limiting disabilities.
Source: Coping with Change and Uncertainty: Scotland's equalities groups and the recession, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Capability Scotland press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A report for the equal rights watchdog examined the criteria used by academics, professionals, and practitioners in defining 'significant inequality'; identified the most significant inequalities in Scotland; and considered the equality issues that stakeholders felt should be the focus of attention in Scotland.
Source: Suzi Macpherson, Morag Patrick and Chih Hoong Sin, Significant Inequalities in Scotland: Identifying significant inequalities and priorities for action, Research Report 61, Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
The equality and human rights watchdog published the first in a series of reports, due to be produced every three years, providing a comprehensive compilation of evidence on discrimination and disadvantage. It painted a picture of a largely tolerant and open-minded society, in which some equality gaps had closed over the previous generation. But other long-standing inequalities remained undiminished; and new social and economic fault-lines were emerging as the population became older and more ethnically and religiously diverse. It identified economic recession, public service reform, management of migration, and technological change as major risk factors in progress towards a fairer society.
Source: How Fair Is Britain? Equality, human rights and good relations in 2010, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report | EHRC press release | BHA press release | Carers UK press release | Civitas press release | EDF press release | Runnymede Trust press release | Scope press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Oct
Most provisions in the Equality Act 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010. The new legislation made it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs; allowed claims for direct gender pay discrimination where there was no actual comparator; and made pay secrecy clauses unenforceable.
Source: The Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 4, Savings, Consequential, Transitional, Transitory and Incidental Provisions and Revocation) Order 2010, Statutory Instrument 2010/2317/TSO
Links: Text of Statutory Instrument | GEO press release | EHRC press release | BHA press release | Carers UK press release | Fawcett Society press release | LGF press release | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
It was disclosed that the Minister for Women and Equalities had written to the Treasury (in June 2010) warning that there were 'real risks' that women, ethnic minorities, disabled people, and older people would be disproportionately affected by the new coalition government's programme of cuts in public spending.
Source: Letter from Theresa May MP (Minister for Women and Equalities) 10 June 2010, reported in The Guardian, 3 August 2010
Links: Guardian report | Letter | Fawcett Society press release
Date: 2010-Aug
The government began consultation on plans implementing the new public sector equality duty (part of the Equality Act 2010) from April 2011. The duty would replace three separate duties that required government departments, local authorities, and other public bodies to take into account gender, race, and disability equality both as employers and when making policy decisions and delivering services. The duty simplified this requirement and also extended it to fully cover age, religion and belief, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment.
Source: Equality Act 2010: The Public Sector Equality Duty – Promoting equality through transparency: A consultation, Government Equalities Office
Links: Consultation document | GEO press release
Date: 2010-Aug
The equality and human rights watchdog published its annual report and accounts for 2008-09. The accounts were qualified by the auditor owing to 'irregular expenditure in a number of areas'.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 1 April 2008-31 March 2009, HC 232, Equality and Human Rights Commission/TSO
Links: Report | EHRC press release | NAO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
An article examined the issues involved in monitoring equalities across the full range of justiciable strands (gender, ethnicity, disability, religion/belief, age, and sexual orientation – together with social class) in the 10 domains of the equality measurement framework adopted by the equal rights watchdog.
Source: Sylvia Walby and Jo Armstrong, 'Measuring equalities: data and indicators in Britain', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 13 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
A paper examined competing equality claims – instances where the equalities claimed by one group or individual threatened, or were perceived to threaten, those of others.
Source: Asif Afridi and Joy Warmington, Managing Competing Equality Claims, Equality and Diversity Forum
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined the role of public services in reducing inequality and promoting cohesion.
Source: Paul Buddery, Zubaida Haque, Peter Taylor-Gooby and Polly Vizard, Equality, Cohesion and Public Services, 2020 Public Services Trust
Links: Report | Runnymede Trust press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A report for the equal rights watchdog reviewed existing knowledge about prejudice: what it was, how it might be measured, and how it might be reduced. Focusing specifically on the equality groups set out in the Equality Act 2006, the report examined perceptions of different groups within society; the psychological bases for prejudice; how prejudice was expressed; and the effects of experience.
Source: Dominic Abrams, Processes of Prejudice: Theory, evidence and intervention, Research Report 56, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jun
An audit report reviewed the data systems used to support delivery of the Labour government's public service agreement 15 – to 'address the disadvantage that individuals experience because of their gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief' – over the period from 2008.
Source: Review of the Data Systems for Public Service Agreement 15, National Audit Office
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jun
The Equality Act 2010 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to replace nine laws and more than 100 other measures with a single Act. All employers with more than 250 staff would be required to report on their gender pay gap from 2013, if sufficient progress on reporting had not already been made voluntarily. Public bodies with more than 150 employees would also be required to report on gender pay differentials, as well as providing other equality data including the number of black, Asian, and minority-ethnic workers. There would be a new duty on public bodies to consider what action they could take to reduce socio-economic inequality when making strategic decisions about spending and services.
Source: Equality Act 2010, Government Equalities Office/TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | EHRC press release | Mind press release | ERS press release | Personnel Today report | PinkNews report
Date: 2010-Apr
A report for the equal rights watchdog explored the public's understanding of the concepts 'equality', 'fairness', and 'good relations' and the key factors that influenced public attitudes on these issues.
Source: Naomi Jones et al., Building Understanding of Fairness, Equality and Good Relations, Research Report 53, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report | Scotland report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that 'serious errors' had been made in the way that the equalities watchdog was set up. It expressed 'surprise and concern' at the £38.8 million cost of setting up the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and 'winding down' its predecessors – the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Source: Equality and Human Rights Commission, Fifteenth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 124, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | PinkNews report | People Management report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the Equality Bill, following amendments on gay rights by the House of Lords, did not comply with the European Union Equality Directive. It also criticized the Bill's provisions concerning discriminatory admissions criteria in faith schools.
Source: Legislative Scrutiny: Equality Bill (Second Report); Digital Economy Bill, Fourteenth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 425 and HL 73, Joint Select Committee on Human Rights/TSO
Links: Report | BHA press release | Accord Coalition press release
Date: 2010-Mar
The government published a summary of responses to a consultation on a draft European Union Directive that proposed extending protection from discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, and services to cover disability, age, sexual orientation, and religion or belief.
Source: UK Consultation on the European Commission Proposal for an Equal Treatment Directive: Government Summary of Responses, Government Equalities Office
Links: Consultation responses | Consultation document
Date: 2010-Feb
An official advisory body recommended a package of reforms designed to increase the diversity of the judiciary. It recommended a fundamental shift in approach – towards one that addressed diversity systematically throughout a judicial career. It proposed the creation of a judicial diversity taskforce to oversee the delivery of reform and to be responsible for progress.
Source: The Report of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity 2010, Ministry of Justice
Links: Report | Hansard | MOJ press release | Judicial Communications Office press release | Law Society press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
A survey examined public views of public appointments – including levels of awareness, general attitudes, and previous experiences. Knowledge of public appointments remained low among the public, with just 14 per cent saying that they knew a great deal or fair amount about them. Men were more likely than women to say they would consider applying for public appointments (17 per cent and 12 per cent respectively). People from minority-ethnic backgrounds were more likely than those from white backgrounds to be interested in applying in future (27 per cent and 12 per cent respectively).
Source: Daniel Cameron and Gideon Skinner, Public Appointments: Awareness, Attitudes and Experiences, Government Equalities Office
Date: 2010-Feb
An article examined research that tested a gender mainstreaming model for its ability to reveal intersectional inequalities. The model enabled the integration of equalities and human rights approaches, and supported prioritization without homogenizing strand-specific inequalities. Gaining satisfactory intersectional evidence would require improved quantitative data collection, the revaluing of qualitative data, and collaborative working between 'equality makers' and 'policy makers'.
Source: Alison Parken, 'A multi-strand approach to promoting equalities and human rights in policy making', Policy & Politics, Volume 38 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
Police authorities (in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) published a strategy for improving their performance on equality, diversity, and human rights issues.
Source: Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Strategy for the Police Service, Association of Police Authorities
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Feb
A think-tank report sought to map the extent of diversity in Britain, in terms of both who lived in Britain and how they identified themselves. It explored how discrimination and disadvantage did not map easily on to orthodox 'strand-based' frameworks, and assessed the shortcomings of existing approaches to understanding and tackling discrimination and disadvantage.
Source: Simon Fanshawe and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, You Can't Put Me In A Box: Super-diversity and the end of identity politics in Britain, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | IPPR press release | New Start report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs said that government targets focused on increasing visits to historic/heritage sites from those in under-represented groups (those with a limiting disability, from lower socio-economic groups, and from black and minority-ethnic groups) served no useful purpose.
Source: Promoting Participation with the Historic Environment, Fifth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 189, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | New Start report
Date: 2010-Jan