Equalities Review Panel Meeting, 19 July 2006
Venue
Room 1.36
22 Whitehall
London
Present:
Trevor Phillips (Chair)
Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas
Sir Robert Kerslake
Cathy Francis
Uma Moorthy
Giovanni Razzu
Emma Cole
Apologies
Carol Lake, Rosie Seymour
1. Machinery of government and Equalities Review / Discrimination Law
Review
The Panel discussed the machinery of government changes which had resulted
in the Equalities Review being placed within DCLG with Ruth Kelly as lead
ministerial sponsor. They felt that this was a positive step for the
Review.
Bob Kerslake updated the Panel on the presentation he made that morning,
jointly with Peter Housden, to Permanent Secretaries about equality and the
work of the Equalities Review. This had been warmly received and the
data and analysis had been of particular interest. Permanent
Secretaries had been positive about the work of the Review so far and about
the capabilities approach to measuring equality.
2. Draft Outline report
The Panel considered an outline for the final report.
They were broadly satisfied with the Team proposal, but advised that it
should give greater prominence to the story of the struggle for equality in
Britain over the last 60 years. This section of the report would also
highlight how much more could be achieved by better use and enforcement of
existing tools and levers.
In addition, the Panel felt that priority actions should constitute a clear
message to government that ‘if you do nothing else, you should do these
things'. The section on ‘levers and what works’ should also cover
priority actions. This would precede a chapter on ‘challenges of tomorrow’.
The Panel wanted an additional supporting document which would describe,
through personal testimonies, people’s lived experience of inequality. The
Team would request the assistance of the Reference Group for this project,
which would also make use of the responses to the Call for Evidence and the
consultation responses.
3. Employment Disadvantage
Giovanni Razzu presented a summary of the output from the employment
roundtable that was held on 20 June 2006. This covered the employment
penalties suffered by ethnic minorities, lone parents and mothers and the
disabled.
The Panel asked the Team to take a closer look at how motherhood and
disability affected people's attitudes to employment. They were also
inetrested in the differences between lone and partnered mothers'
attitudes to employment and in the effect that different disabilities had,
such as mental illness or learning disabilities, on distance from the
labour market.
They also requested more information on the numbers of people in these
different groups, to help them to scope the most appropriate policy
responses (for example a small group with complex. needs may require a
tailored response, unlike a larger group for whom systemic reform may be
needed).
The Panel asked the Team to look in more depth at the constrained and
unconstrained choices made, particularly by mothers, in relation to
employment, and the different barriers to employment for different groups.
Finally, the Panel discussed the non–economic costs of inequality and the
case for looking at subjective well being and other ‘non–countable’
outcomes in addition to the Review's current work on economic costs.
4. Equality Impact Assessments
Cathy Francis presented a paper outlining the programme for conducting
retrospective equality impact assessments of selected government
programmes. Several of the departments approached, including DWP and the Home Office,
had identified possible programmes. The Panel asked the Team to have
further discussions with DfES officials about Early
Years/ Primary policy areas.
5. Work Programme Update (including research and policy seminars – oral
update)
Cathy Francis gave the Panel an oral update on the work programme. An
invidation to tender had been issued for the planned programme of seminars,
and work on the tenders for the measurement framework, early years and
transgender research was nearly complete.
The Panel asked the Team for a detailed project plan of the work programme,
with appropriate milestones. They reiterated that the outputs from the
planned seminar programme should be explicitly policy–focused. The Panel
also discussed the involvement of key experts to ensure that the benefits
of tehse seminars were maximised.
The Panel confirmed its support for a final publication date of February
2007.
6. Consultation update
Cathy Francis and Emma Cole updated the Panel on the written consultation
responses. Many of the themes arising had been similar to those raised at
the consultation events.
The Panel asked the Team to give further consideration to housing
inequalities and the role of the media in perpetuating or combating
stereotypes and negative public attitudes.
7. AOB
There was no further business.
Equalities Review Team
July 2006
