Memorandum by the Odysseus Trust
1. The Odysseus Trust[12]
is a non-profit company limited by guarantee which seeks to promote
good governance and the effective protection of human rights.
The Trust is directed by Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, together
with two Parliamentary Legal Officers, Kate Beattie and Bonita
Meyersfeld. This paper responds to the Communities and Local Government
Committee's inquiry into Equality.
2. The groundwork for a Single Equality
Bill has already been done in the wide-ranging and ground-breaking
report of the Independent Review of the Enforcement of UK Anti-Discrimination
Legislation, Equality: A New Framework, published in 2000
("the Hepple Report"). The Hepple Report led to Lord
Lester's Private Member's Single Equality Bill, which was passed
by the House of Lords in 2003.
3. There are several key points which must
be followed if we are to achieve effective equality legislation.
First, there must be no levelling down of existing protection.
Second, there must be effective individual remedies and scope
for enforcement. Third, there must be less emphasis on procedures,
and more emphasis on outcomes.
4. The Hepple Report made important recommendations
for a single Equality Act for Britain. The Report recommended
that the equality framework should be based on the following principles:
— The goal of legislation is to eliminate
unlawful discrimination and to promote equality regardless of
sex, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief,
disability, age, sexual orientation, or other status;
— There must be clear, consistent and
easily intelligible standards;
— The regulatory framework must be
effective, efficient and equitable, aimed at encouraging personal
responsibility and self-generating efforts to promote equality;
— The regulatory framework must state
the whole of the law including EU law implementation within a
single Bill, as far as possible;
— There must be opportunities for those
directly affected to participate, through information, consultation,
and engagement in the process of change; and
— Individuals should be free to seek
redress for the harm they have suffered as a result of unlawful
discrimination, through procedures which are fair, inexpensive
and expeditious, and the remedies should be effective.
5. The Hepple Report also contained new
ideas which should inform the current review. It recommended effective
action to tackle pay inequity, including a duty on employers to
conduct workforce reviews. It focused on government contracts
and state aid: where there is persistent non-compliance with tribunal
orders, companies should be ineligible for Government contracts.
The Report also focused on positive action and positive duties,
and considered the merits of a general duty to promote equality
of opportunity on all public bodies.
6. We enclose the full list of recommendations
in the Hepple Report which we hope will be useful for the Committee's
inquiry.
12 For more information about the work of the Trust,
please visit www.odysseustrust.org Back
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