Call for evidence – closed on 25 November 2005
The Equalities Review issued a call for
evidence between 11 October 2005 and 25 November 2005. The text of the call
for evidence appears below – a report on the responses to the call for
evidence will be added once these have been analysed.
The Government is committed to building a society where every person has an
equal chance to achieve their potential not limited by prejudice and
discrimination. Building on over thirty years' experience of equality
legislation, a comprehensive programme of reform is underway that will
create a new framework to challenge discrimination and inequality.
As part of this programme of reform the Prime Minister asked Trevor
Phillips to chair the Equalities Review Panel. He is joined on the Panel by
Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, Carol Lake, Nick Pearce and Sir Bob Kerslake. The
Panel is seeking the submission of initial evidence to help guide the Panel
in this work. This will feed into the interim report for publication in
early 2006 which will be the subject of a full public consultation.
Background to the Review
Significant progress has been made in addressing inequality and prejudice
since the first Race Relations Act was introduced in 1965. Since then,
Governments have legislated to protect people from discrimination on the
basis of gender and disability, and more recently on the basis of sexual
orientation and religion or belief, and soon age. But despite substantial
progress during the last 40 years, there remains evidence of deep–seated
patterns of disadvantage in our society.
For example, disabled people are at far greater risk of poverty than
non–disabled people. Educational attainment for black Caribbean boys
consistently falls below that of their female and white peers. The
unemployment rate of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis is 2.5 times greater than
that of the white population. The pay gap between men's and women's
earnings remains. Someone made redundant after 50 is eight times less
likely to return to work than a younger person. And incidences of hate
crime threaten the security of many different minority groups.
Existing work to tackle inequality has focused on particular groups. We
need to build on this to develop a better understanding of the long term
and underlying barriers to opportunity so that we can identify the tools
that are effective in improving individual outcomes while balancing the
needs of business and employers for a regulatory regime consistent with
continued wealth creation.
That is why the Prime Minister asked the Panel to undertake a fundamental
review of equality of opportunity. This review will identify the
interaction between socio–economic inequalities and the position of
disadvantaged groups, and propose changes – both to the legislative
framework and more widely – that can transform people's life chances.
The work will provide a firm foundation for the work of the new Commission
for Equality and Human Rights, as well as providing recommendations for the
Government, the wider public sector, employers and trade unions, civic
society and the voluntary sector.
Trevor Phillips wrote to a number of individuals and organisations on 22
July, asking for some initial input. The Panel is now formally request help
in setting out a comprehensive picture, and in understanding the issues
facing people and groups across England, Wales and Scotland. This will feed
into the Panel's interim report in the winter.
Focus for the review
Given the breadth of the challenge facing the Panel it has decided to have
a clear focus on the long term and on those areas where, despite Government
efforts, progress remains too slow, or where things have got worse.
The Panel will therefore look back over the last 60 years and ahead to the
next 40 years to set priorities. It is working with academics and
researchers to try and understand from the data what the most intractable
areas are, but it is also keen to hear from others what are the most
intractable problems.
Call for evidence
This call for evidence is split into a number of different sections and
sub–sections.
First it focuses on getting your views on where we are – the progress that
has been made, looking at what the intractable problems are and the
inter–relationships between poverty, class and discrimination.
Second it asks about what you or your organisation do to tackle inequality
– what are the barriers, what interventions work, what are the gaps. Where
possible the Panel would like you to relate this to your specific work, or
services that you have experienced.
Third it asks you to tell the Panel where you think Great Britain should be
in the future, and asks you to help the Panel set the priorities for this
work.
The Panel would like to hear from individuals and groups including:
-
organisations that work to reduce inequalities
-
organisations that provide advice on equality and human rights
-
organisations that provide services to people experiencing inequality,
discrimination or disadvantage
-
staff delivering these services at the frontline
-
people experiencing inequality, discrimination or disadvantage
-
organisations that represent these people
-
organisations, academics and think tanks who undertake research into
equality and human rights.
What to include and by when
The Panel wants to hear your views about the priorities and focus for
tackling inequalities. In addition, it would be helpful to hear about:
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examples of good practice, including examples from other countries
-
case studies that show how services helped people or highlight problems
facing service users
-
projects that you think we should know about, including contact details
if you can
-
research, please provide full references where possible.
This proforma will help you focus your response to this request and will
help in collating responses. If there are other people that you think may
want to respond, please let them know.
