Memorandum by PCS
INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS)
represents the majority of staff working at the three existing
equality commissions which will be replaced by the new Commission
for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).
This memorandum sets out a summary of the PCS
vision for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. It
is based on an extensive consultation with our members working
for the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights
Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission in England,
Scotland and Wales and represents the unique experience and expertise
of those whose day-to-day works involves the promotion of equality
of opportunity.
PCS has supplemented this evidence with our
consultation document "What price equality? PCS's vision
for a robust, properly funded and authoritative Commission for
Equality and Human Rights." This document is aimed at decision
makers and stakeholders. Its purpose is to provide a useful and
authoritative contribution to the current debate on the organisation
and structure of CEHR.
BUDGET
PCS believes that the proposed budget of £70
million falls far short of the funding required for the CEHR to
be an authoritative, coherent and effective organisation with
a respected presence.
The new body must be equipped to achieve the
goals with which it has been tasked, to use its enforcement powers
effectively, to run high profile campaigns, and to work with employers
on good practice development. It must also have national and regional
structures able to deliver local advice provision and work with
communities to promote equality.
Although the proposed budget is slightly greater
than the combined budgets of the three existing commissions (currently
approx £50 million), this body will be expected to take on
three additional equality strands, the promotion of human rights
and the enforcement of the new disability and gender public sector
duties. Added to this, the new equality areas will need to develop
legal strategies, support cases, commission research and initiate
investigations in relatively new areas of law. All this costs
money.
The CEHR has been given strong enforcement tools,
but without sufficient funding it will be unable to make effective
use of them.
Legal Framework
The CEHR cannot be fully effective without harmonising
the legislation.
It is imperative that parallel to the CEHR is
a single equality act with a consistent framework of legislation
and rights between all the equality groups. The general duty to
promote equality should be extended across all six equality strands
and apply to both the public and private sector.
The current disparities will result in different
groups of people having different levels of protection. This will
harm the positive introduction of the CEHR, hinder how it carries
out its work, create a hierarchy of rights, sow confusion amongst
stakeholders and be a potential source of division.
STRUCTURE
Whilst recognising that to be effective, the
CEHR will need to have multi-strand functions, we recommend that
there should be some capacity for specialism and ring-fenced resources
for each equality strand. The unique and complex nature and causes
of each area of discrimination must be recognised in order to
develop and maintain expertise and prevent competing priorities
which might result in the under funding and marginalisation of
work on less high profile issues.
Location
A key concern for our members is the avoidance
of compulsory redundancies or compulsory relocation. The structure
should take account of where staff currently work to prevent any
disproportionate and potentially unlawful adverse impact on ethnic
minority or disabled staff, or on staff with family responsibilities,
many of whom would find it impossible to relocate. It would be
a great shame to lose the skills and experience of current staff
as well as a shameful waste of public money.
London
It should be a priority to retain the experience,
skills and expertise of the current London-based staff, in order
to meet the needs of the high concentration of ethnic minority
populations in the London region.
London is also the natural base of a wide spectrum
of national lobbying work owing to the presence of the main government
offices and stakeholder organisations in London and the South
East.
Scotland and Wales
— A network of regional offices throughout
both countries will be essential, given the poor transport and
communication infrastructure in many areas, and recognising the
marked regional differences in issues affecting communities.
— The Scottish and Welsh offices must
have the same devolved powers as the Scottish Parliament and National
Assembly for Wales, and be recognised as being a division of the
CEHR in a different country with the powers and importance along
with local control that that would entail.
— The provision of quality front-line
advice services in both Scotland and Wales will be essential.
The in-house helpline services in the CRE and EOC currently provide
invaluable information about key issues in both countries, as
well as important legal cases testing and clarifying the equality
laws.
— PCS strongly urges early dialogue
in Scotland between the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights
and the CEHR, the Scotland CEHR Commissioner and those responsible
for the organisational design and business priorities for the
CEHR in Scotland. This will enable detailed arrangements to be
put in place about how the two human rights bodies, once they
are operational, will work together. The priority should be to
minimise the effect on the public in Scotland of the reduced powers
that are being proposed for the Scottish Commissioner on Human
Rights.
— The need for the CEHR to operate
bilingually, not only at a Wales level, but at a GB-wide basis
must be recognised.
A GREAT BRITAIN
REGIONAL STRUCTURE
The CEHR must have sufficient funding and staffing
levels for the establishment of a robust regional structure in
England, Scotland and Wales. The English regions are more than
the north/ south division implied by a presence only in Manchester
and London, and there are marked regional differences across both
Scotland and Wales.
A robust and properly staffed regional structure
will play a significant role in delivering local advice provision,
working with communities to promote equality and developing regional
partnerships.
The CEHR should also build upon existing structures,
for example the Race Equality Councils, which should be expanded
to reflect the broader pan-equality context within which the Commission
will operate.
The CEHR will have the power to fund voluntary
and community groups working to promote equality across all strands.
This will require a substantially higher funding budget than the
£4.2 million per annum currently spent by the CRE on funding
local groups. The CEHR's overall budget will need to be increased
accordingly to avoid any withdrawal of support for those groups
currently funded by the CRE to promote race equality in the community.
Functions
Decisions regarding the functions of the CEHR
will impact on budget and location issues. The decisions on functions
should not just be made by commissioners but also by staff with
expertise in the existing commissions.
PCS believes that all the major functions of
the CEHR should be delivered in-house. The experience of outsourcing
central services in the civil service has been unsuccessful and
puts at risk the accountable and effective delivery of public
services.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
AND ADVICE
Having an effective law enforcement function
will maximise the integrity and reputation of the CEHR—meeting
public expectations of the CEHR as a body prepared and able to
use the power of the law to protect people from discrimination.
It will be a public demonstration of the government's support
for a civilised society.
The CEHR should act as the champion of victims
of discrimination, but it can only do that if it has the budget
and resources to undertake investigations and to take the strategic
cases that will lead to changes in practices and to fairer treatment.
PCS is concerned that the new body may not be willing or able
to use its enforcement powers effectively. There is no duty under
the Equality Act for the CEHR to consider all complaints of discrimination.
HELPLINE
The helpline will be the public face of the
CEHR and must be at the heart of its structure. To be effective,
the CEHR must address the dearth of advice provision in both the
voluntary and statutory sectors. A "call centre" scripted
service will not fulfill this role.
PCS believes the helpline should be properly
resourced and delivered in-house, and it would be a mistake to
separate out the advice service from the main body. The current
helplines, staffed by trained legal advisers, play a central and
integrated role within each commission—working closely with
law enforcement, campaigns, media and policy teams to identify
strategic cases, inform potential investigations, promote campaigns,
assist with good practice development, provide case studies for
the media and give feedback on the website. The staff are trained
legal advisers with an integrated career development structure
and the opportunity to join cross-cutting working groups. Without
this joined up way of working, the CEHR will be far less effective.
POLICY DEVELOPMENT,
RESEARCH, INFORMATION
AND STATISTICS
A professional team providing research, statistics
and information services to the CEHR will be essential. The three
functions provide complementary services, which together will
ensure that the organisation has the factual evidence it needs
to base policy, and maintain credibility with stakeholders. The
CEHR's information service should include a well-resourced library
with public access.
LAUNCH OF
THE COMMISSION
As a result of changes in the DCLG Transition
Team and the replacement of the original consultants engaged to
develop the CEHR organisational design, the programme schedule
is now running nine months later than anticipated.
To date, no organisational design with a staffing
structure and locations has been presented to or agreed by commissioners,
and therefore the transfer of staff to posts in the new Commission
has yet to commence.
A decision has been taken to prioritise the
filling of posts in the helpline, but PCS believes that the new
organisation will not be "open for business" in October.
The helpline cannot function in a vacuum for reasons stated earlier,
and we would recommend that a more realistic timetable is adopted
if the CEHR is to be established successfully as an authoritative
functioning organisation which meets the needs of stakeholders
and the public.
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