Speech on cuts to the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Introductory remarks
Staff at the equality and human rights commission are experts in their field and deeply concerned about the attack on equalities represented by the proposed 62% cut to budget and 72% cut to staffing by 2015, from its original levels in 2007. They and their trade unions, PCS and Unite, believe these cuts amount to the closure of the EHRC as we know it and its transformation into little more than a think tank.
The eminent QC, Sir Bob Hepple, states in a recent article for the Industrial Law Journal that the Commission's '... ability to use effectively even its restricted powers will be compromised by severe cuts in its annual budget'.
http://ilj.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/4/315.short
The EHRC
The EHRC is an independent statutory body established by parliament under the Equality Act 2006. As a regulator, the commission is responsible for enforcing equality legislation on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status, and encouraging compliance with the Human Rights Act.
Its powers include: promoting understanding and encouraging good practice in relation to human rights; monitoring the law and providing legal assistance; providing information and advice; conducting inquiries and judicial reviews; providing a conciliation service; and grant making powers.
In addition European directives contain requirements for an equality body within member states.
Scotland and the EHRC
Let me turn for a few moments to the Scottish dimension in this given the very different political, legal and economic landscape, The proposed cuts would threaten high profile work in Scotland – such as the Disability Harassment Inquiry, Human Trafficking Inquiry, guidance to public bodies on their obligations under Equality Law and the EHRC hosting of Independent Living Scotland.
The Scottish Helpline deals with over 5000 calls per annum the largest proportion from Scots who have been subjected to disability discrimination. The Scottish Helpline also provides a UK wide service. The nature of the advice is highly technical; there is no other organisation with an equivalent level of experience and knowledge that can fill this gap and provide a similar quality and level of service.
The Commission losing its funding function is already leaving a gap in the finances of well respected organisations such as Govan Law Centre, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Equality Network and Central Scotland Racial Equality Council, to name just a handful.
The cuts
What impact will the 62% cuts in budget have:
The workforce will be cut by more than half
legal enforcement capabilities will be reduced
the helpline will close by September 2012, and end current provision in Scotland and Wales
regional offices will be shut or reduced. The Bristol and Nottingham offices have already been shut for about a year, further offices planned for closure are in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Bangor, Guildford and Cambridge and Leeds, and the offices in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Cardiff are to shrink.
grants function will end, some ended March 2012, the rest will end March 2013.
I want now to go into more detail of the cuts and pose some questions for the Minister
Helpline
The EHRC helpline currently provides direct advice to callers, and staff can refer cases for consideration for legal support by the Commission. Of the more than 70,000 calls received every year by the helpline (despite the fact it has never been properly advertised), the majority group calling for advice is disabled people.
The helpline will be closed and replaced by September 2012 with a referral service signposting callers to potential sources of help. The outsourced referral line will not have the conciliation powers or legal assistance powers that the Commission has under the Equality Act 2006.
A recent Guardian article on 3 April this year by David Hencke reported that the jobs agency at the centre of a fraud inquiry, A4e, is the 'preferred bidder' for the EHRC helpline service. The Government Equality Office has informed staff that the preferred bidder has said they will not keep any provision in Scotland or Wales.
Over 30% of staff who currently work for the helpline are disabled, and around 20% are from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities and the same percentage are carers. The impossibility of relocating for many (particularly in Scotland and Wales where provision will end) and high likelihood of workers opting for redundancy, means that the expertise of these highly experienced advisors will be lost.
The chances of a smooth transition to the referral line and retention of expertise (as the government claim will be the case), are therefore negligible.
My Question to the minister is this
Given the one third of operators who are disabled, one fifth from BME communities and one fifth who are carers, what equality impact assessment has there been of the changes to the helpline provision?
What is the delay with the announcement of the new provider of the helpline, as this was supposed to be announced in mid February, but has now been rumoured to be pushed back to the middle of May?
Regional Offices
The closure of regional offices will exacerbate problems of advice deserts where no other advisory services exist and the commission will lose its vital link to the public and access to crucial evidence of emerging issues.
Remaining regionally focused teams have been reassigned to undertake national support work. The loss of these offices and the work they do at grass roots level in terms of intelligence gathering will have a significant impact on the understanding of equality and human rights across Great Britain.
My next Question to the minister is this
What research has been done to ascertain the impact of the closure of regional offices on the problem of ‘advice deserts’ and the gathering of evidence on emerging local issues?
What about Grants
Legal grants (projects providing specialist legal advice and representation in equality and human rights) ended on 31 March 2012, while strategic grants (providing guidance, advice and advocacy services, infrastructure development, capacity building and good relations) will end in March 2013.
Many disability and race groups have benefited from the EHRC grants programme as they had done before the EHRC's creation. A grant received by a local equality body from the EHRC, could and often did lead to additional sources of revenue from other funders (lottery, charities, local authorities etc).
The warnings by experts such as Race on The Agenda in 2007 that the local BME infrastructure would suffer significant funding reductions have been realised, not because of the EHRC’s creation, but because of the government cuts to the EHRC grants programme.
The government has argued that the grants function, amongst other services, should close because it claims grants have little impact and the service function has not been well managed. While there is an ongoing complaint about the government’s statements in this regard, it is perhaps most telling to note that the experts and stakeholders also challenge the government’s assertion. A survey by the Discrimination Law Association of providers indicated that without EHRC grants, advice organisations, such as citizens’ advice bureaux and law centres would not be able to sustain their services and some might have to close down completely. (Discrimination Law Association, Response to the EHRC Reform Consultation, June 2011)
My Question to the minister is this
From whom have the government and/or EHRC received protestations about the withdrawal of the grants programme?
Turning to Mediation
The EHRC’s mediation services have ended. Contrary to the claims of government that legal aid will take up the shortfall, once legal aid reforms are implemented, the only legal aid available for discrimination cases will be for ‘goods, facilities and services’ cases that are the minority and are complex and involve large sums. Employment cases will not be eligible for any legal aid support.
I want to turn now to the loss of independence and UN ‘A’ status
In 2009 the Commission became one of just 70 United Nations ‘A’ status accredited National Human Rights Institutions. The EHRC is Great Britain’s first accredited NHRI. The ‘A’ status confers special rights and entitlements to work with the UN Council.
In order to determine this status the UN reviewed the work and structure of the Commission at the time and found it to be compliant with the Paris Principles. Key Paris Principles are that the NHRI must be independent of government and not be subject to financial control which might affect its independence. The Commission must also have adequate funding to conduct its activities.
The loss of independence, lack of financial control and lack of funding due to 62% cuts means that this status is in jeopardy. The Commission recently published its Framework Agreement with the Home Office which includes details of Spending Controls and an obligation of the Commission to provide a Business Case for approval to the Home Office's Director of Communications for all projects with an element of spend on advertising and marketing.
If the project is spending more than £100,000 then the EHRC’s business case, once approved by the HO Director of Communication, should go to the Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities. Once HO Ministers have approved it, the EHRC must complete the Cabinet Office’s exemption template and submit to the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group and Minister for the Cabinet Office for approval. It also states that the Home Office should receive near final versions of external EHRC communications 48 hours before issue.
Many MPs will be surprised that the Framework agreement dictates how the Commission interacts with Parliament and yet states categorically that the Commission must be politically neutral and abide by the Cabinet Office’s Rules on lobbying for Non-Departmental Public Bodies. The Commission is also instructed to issue guidance to staff outlining 'when and how briefings for Parliament are developed, the style of briefings, how briefings should be internally cleared'.
My Questions to the minister therefore are these:
Does the Minister believe that the Framework Agreement complies with the Paris Principles, particularly relating to independence?
Can the Minister advise as to whether or not they have assessed the impact of the proposed budget cut to £26 million by the end of this year on the independence of the Commission?
Turning to Organisational change
The current restructuring at the EHRC repeats many of the mistakes identified in the Public Accounts Committee report of 2010.
The report highlighted the problem of staff with valuable skills leaving through an early exit scheme and went on to recommend that the ‘Treasury and the Cabinet Office should ensure that they provide clear guidelines on the need to consider the retention of key skills when devising early exit schemes' (PAC, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Fifteenth Report of Session 2009-2010, p6).
The EHRC has spent £500,000 a month on consultancy fees and expenses for interim staff who are leading the work on reforming the Commission. I do not believe that this is an effective use of public money or in the interests of the taxpayer.
These major changes are occurring as questions about the new Chair go unanswered.
And so I ask
What assurances can the minister give that the Commission will not lose more skilled and experienced staff through more early exit schemes and that the Commission will not in future replace staff already lost with costly consultants?
And can the Minister advise if the Treasury and the Cabinet Office have produced the guidelines recommended by the PAC to ensure the retention of skilled staff and has the Commission followed this guidance? and
When will the next Chair be announced?
Key stakeholders responding to the government consultation on the future of the EHRC ‘Building a fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’, made clear the need to maintain the funding and remit of the body. However the government has so far refused to publish the results of the consultation in detail, despite freedom of information requests, parliamentary questions and an official letter to the Home Secretary from the general secretary of the TUC.
So I have another Question for the minister – yes I am asking lots of questions but only because there are lots of questions to be answered -
Will the Minister publish the responses to the government consultation on the future of the EHRC, and, given the Home Office’s report on its own website that the majority of respondents (including key stakeholders, equality experts and PCS members), opposed the changes, will the minister halt further cuts?
There are reasons for the EHRC to be proud of its achievements in its first two years
It provides an essential two-pronged approach of preventative and enforcement capabilities at a time when Britain faces many challenges.
In its first two years the commission has:
ensured protection for 6 million carers against discrimination in employment
answered over 70, 000 contacts a year to the helpline
resolved 80% of enforcement cases without the need to go to court
exposed exploitation of migrant workers in the meat processing sector
advised 136,000 businesses about avoiding discrimination during the downturn
distributed £14 million in grants to 285 different voluntary groups delivering frontline services across the country
revealed through a formal inquiry into the finance sector that women working full time earned up to 55% less annually than their male colleagues. The economy-wide gender pay gap is 28%.
and all this at a cost of around just £1 a year per person living in Britain.
There are many equality challenges facing Britain today which need the presence of an effective EHRC.
In addition to the over 1million young people unemployed and women’s unemployment running at its highest rate in over 20 years, other inequalities still persist, for example:
40% of disabled people have no formal qualifications
Bangladeshis (55%), Pakistanis (45%) and Black Africans (30%) are particularly likely to work in low-income employment
the pay gap between men and women remains, with women working full time still being paid on average 16.4% less than men
EHRC research shows that 30,000 women lose their jobs each year as a result of their pregnancy
lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender people may be more likely than average to attempt suicide or to commit acts of self-harm
The tribunals service annual reports show a substantial increase in the number of claims lodged in employment tribunals since 2008-9. In addition there are £350 million planned cuts to legal aid and a £1.166 billion reduction in grants to local government. At the same time confidence in the voluntary sector is at an all time low:
A voluntary sector in crisis can’t fill the vacuum left by funding cuts to local government grants, legal aid and the EHRC.
A Government that takes equality seriously would be committed to a future-proofed commission
EHRC should be able to fulfill its statutory duties as directed by parliament and the EU directives. At a time of austerity it is vital the EHRC maintains its legal enforcement powers, advisory role and connection with the grassroots. However, the cuts would make this impossible. This was made clear in the ‘ EHRC Strategic Plan 2012-15’, published on 27 March 2012 (the day before recess), in which it was admitted for the first time of the cuts that ‘... much of this reduction will need to be accommodated in the significant change programme we will deliver in the first year of this strategy.’ (p6)
Britain needs a commission that fulfils its core functions in a cost-efficient, visible manner but I can only conclude that the government is effectively seeking to close the body entrusted by parliament to protect and promote equality and human rights in Britain. At the same time the budget for the Government Equalities Office in the Home Office has gone up from £14 million to £26 million. What are we to deduce from that fact ?
Having said all of that I acknowledge, as would many of the EHRC natural allies, that it has not all been plain sailing for the EHRC.Its first three sets of accounts were qualified by the National Audit Office; there have been very obvious tensions between staff, senior management and the commissioners which have no doubt had an impact on enabling the EHRC to achieve its goals. The Government has sought to attack and undermine the work of the EHRC particularly because of issues of financial management. However responsibility for this does not lie with those who work on the help line, grants team, mediation service or in regional offices. Any such issues should be sorted out and not used as an excuse to cut essential services to those in need and those suffering discrimination. Despite concerns about its performance NGOs , unions and others as I have said still want to see an effective, robust and independent EHRC.
They want a future in which an outward looking, integrated and well resourced commission, in touch with the grassroots concerns and needs of ordinary people, provides much needed enforcement powers, advice and support to the people of Britain as they face the dire economic challenges brought about by this government’s policies.
Introductory remarks
Staff at the equality and human rights commission are experts in their field and deeply concerned about the attack on equalities represented by the proposed 62% cut to budget and 72% cut to staffing by 2015, from its original levels in 2007. They and their trade unions, PCS and Unite, believe these cuts amount to the closure of the EHRC as we know it and its transformation into little more than a think tank.
The eminent QC, Sir Bob Hepple, states in a recent article for the Industrial Law Journal that the Commission's '... ability to use effectively even its restricted powers will be compromised by severe cuts in its annual budget'.
http://ilj.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/4/315.short
The EHRC
The EHRC is an independent statutory body established by parliament under the Equality Act 2006. As a regulator, the commission is responsible for enforcing equality legislation on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status, and encouraging compliance with the Human Rights Act.
Its powers include: promoting understanding and encouraging good practice in relation to human rights; monitoring the law and providing legal assistance; providing information and advice; conducting inquiries and judicial reviews; providing a conciliation service; and grant making powers.
In addition European directives contain requirements for an equality body within member states.
Scotland and the EHRC
Let me turn for a few moments to the Scottish dimension in this given the very different political, legal and economic landscape, The proposed cuts would threaten high profile work in Scotland – such as the Disability Harassment Inquiry, Human Trafficking Inquiry, guidance to public bodies on their obligations under Equality Law and the EHRC hosting of Independent Living Scotland.
The Scottish Helpline deals with over 5000 calls per annum the largest proportion from Scots who have been subjected to disability discrimination. The Scottish Helpline also provides a UK wide service. The nature of the advice is highly technical; there is no other organisation with an equivalent level of experience and knowledge that can fill this gap and provide a similar quality and level of service.
The Commission losing its funding function is already leaving a gap in the finances of well respected organisations such as Govan Law Centre, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Equality Network and Central Scotland Racial Equality Council, to name just a handful.
The cuts
What impact will the 62% cuts in budget have:
The workforce will be cut by more than half
legal enforcement capabilities will be reduced
the helpline will close by September 2012, and end current provision in Scotland and Wales
regional offices will be shut or reduced. The Bristol and Nottingham offices have already been shut for about a year, further offices planned for closure are in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Bangor, Guildford and Cambridge and Leeds, and the offices in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Cardiff are to shrink.
grants function will end, some ended March 2012, the rest will end March 2013.
I want now to go into more detail of the cuts and pose some questions for the Minister
Helpline
The EHRC helpline currently provides direct advice to callers, and staff can refer cases for consideration for legal support by the Commission. Of the more than 70,000 calls received every year by the helpline (despite the fact it has never been properly advertised), the majority group calling for advice is disabled people.
The helpline will be closed and replaced by September 2012 with a referral service signposting callers to potential sources of help. The outsourced referral line will not have the conciliation powers or legal assistance powers that the Commission has under the Equality Act 2006.
A recent Guardian article on 3 April this year by David Hencke reported that the jobs agency at the centre of a fraud inquiry, A4e, is the 'preferred bidder' for the EHRC helpline service. The Government Equality Office has informed staff that the preferred bidder has said they will not keep any provision in Scotland or Wales.
Over 30% of staff who currently work for the helpline are disabled, and around 20% are from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities and the same percentage are carers. The impossibility of relocating for many (particularly in Scotland and Wales where provision will end) and high likelihood of workers opting for redundancy, means that the expertise of these highly experienced advisors will be lost.
The chances of a smooth transition to the referral line and retention of expertise (as the government claim will be the case), are therefore negligible.
My Question to the minister is this
Given the one third of operators who are disabled, one fifth from BME communities and one fifth who are carers, what equality impact assessment has there been of the changes to the helpline provision?
What is the delay with the announcement of the new provider of the helpline, as this was supposed to be announced in mid February, but has now been rumoured to be pushed back to the middle of May?
Regional Offices
The closure of regional offices will exacerbate problems of advice deserts where no other advisory services exist and the commission will lose its vital link to the public and access to crucial evidence of emerging issues.
Remaining regionally focused teams have been reassigned to undertake national support work. The loss of these offices and the work they do at grass roots level in terms of intelligence gathering will have a significant impact on the understanding of equality and human rights across Great Britain.
My next Question to the minister is this
What research has been done to ascertain the impact of the closure of regional offices on the problem of ‘advice deserts’ and the gathering of evidence on emerging local issues?
What about Grants
Legal grants (projects providing specialist legal advice and representation in equality and human rights) ended on 31 March 2012, while strategic grants (providing guidance, advice and advocacy services, infrastructure development, capacity building and good relations) will end in March 2013.
Many disability and race groups have benefited from the EHRC grants programme as they had done before the EHRC's creation. A grant received by a local equality body from the EHRC, could and often did lead to additional sources of revenue from other funders (lottery, charities, local authorities etc).
The warnings by experts such as Race on The Agenda in 2007 that the local BME infrastructure would suffer significant funding reductions have been realised, not because of the EHRC’s creation, but because of the government cuts to the EHRC grants programme.
The government has argued that the grants function, amongst other services, should close because it claims grants have little impact and the service function has not been well managed. While there is an ongoing complaint about the government’s statements in this regard, it is perhaps most telling to note that the experts and stakeholders also challenge the government’s assertion. A survey by the Discrimination Law Association of providers indicated that without EHRC grants, advice organisations, such as citizens’ advice bureaux and law centres would not be able to sustain their services and some might have to close down completely. (Discrimination Law Association, Response to the EHRC Reform Consultation, June 2011)
My Question to the minister is this
From whom have the government and/or EHRC received protestations about the withdrawal of the grants programme?
Turning to Mediation
The EHRC’s mediation services have ended. Contrary to the claims of government that legal aid will take up the shortfall, once legal aid reforms are implemented, the only legal aid available for discrimination cases will be for ‘goods, facilities and services’ cases that are the minority and are complex and involve large sums. Employment cases will not be eligible for any legal aid support.
I want to turn now to the loss of independence and UN ‘A’ status
In 2009 the Commission became one of just 70 United Nations ‘A’ status accredited National Human Rights Institutions. The EHRC is Great Britain’s first accredited NHRI. The ‘A’ status confers special rights and entitlements to work with the UN Council.
In order to determine this status the UN reviewed the work and structure of the Commission at the time and found it to be compliant with the Paris Principles. Key Paris Principles are that the NHRI must be independent of government and not be subject to financial control which might affect its independence. The Commission must also have adequate funding to conduct its activities.
The loss of independence, lack of financial control and lack of funding due to 62% cuts means that this status is in jeopardy. The Commission recently published its Framework Agreement with the Home Office which includes details of Spending Controls and an obligation of the Commission to provide a Business Case for approval to the Home Office's Director of Communications for all projects with an element of spend on advertising and marketing.
If the project is spending more than £100,000 then the EHRC’s business case, once approved by the HO Director of Communication, should go to the Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities. Once HO Ministers have approved it, the EHRC must complete the Cabinet Office’s exemption template and submit to the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group and Minister for the Cabinet Office for approval. It also states that the Home Office should receive near final versions of external EHRC communications 48 hours before issue.
Many MPs will be surprised that the Framework agreement dictates how the Commission interacts with Parliament and yet states categorically that the Commission must be politically neutral and abide by the Cabinet Office’s Rules on lobbying for Non-Departmental Public Bodies. The Commission is also instructed to issue guidance to staff outlining 'when and how briefings for Parliament are developed, the style of briefings, how briefings should be internally cleared'.
My Questions to the minister therefore are these:
Does the Minister believe that the Framework Agreement complies with the Paris Principles, particularly relating to independence?
Can the Minister advise as to whether or not they have assessed the impact of the proposed budget cut to £26 million by the end of this year on the independence of the Commission?
Turning to Organisational change
The current restructuring at the EHRC repeats many of the mistakes identified in the Public Accounts Committee report of 2010.
The report highlighted the problem of staff with valuable skills leaving through an early exit scheme and went on to recommend that the ‘Treasury and the Cabinet Office should ensure that they provide clear guidelines on the need to consider the retention of key skills when devising early exit schemes' (PAC, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Fifteenth Report of Session 2009-2010, p6).
The EHRC has spent £500,000 a month on consultancy fees and expenses for interim staff who are leading the work on reforming the Commission. I do not believe that this is an effective use of public money or in the interests of the taxpayer.
These major changes are occurring as questions about the new Chair go unanswered.
And so I ask
What assurances can the minister give that the Commission will not lose more skilled and experienced staff through more early exit schemes and that the Commission will not in future replace staff already lost with costly consultants?
And can the Minister advise if the Treasury and the Cabinet Office have produced the guidelines recommended by the PAC to ensure the retention of skilled staff and has the Commission followed this guidance? and
When will the next Chair be announced?
Key stakeholders responding to the government consultation on the future of the EHRC ‘Building a fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’, made clear the need to maintain the funding and remit of the body. However the government has so far refused to publish the results of the consultation in detail, despite freedom of information requests, parliamentary questions and an official letter to the Home Secretary from the general secretary of the TUC.
So I have another Question for the minister – yes I am asking lots of questions but only because there are lots of questions to be answered -
Will the Minister publish the responses to the government consultation on the future of the EHRC, and, given the Home Office’s report on its own website that the majority of respondents (including key stakeholders, equality experts and PCS members), opposed the changes, will the minister halt further cuts?
There are reasons for the EHRC to be proud of its achievements in its first two years
It provides an essential two-pronged approach of preventative and enforcement capabilities at a time when Britain faces many challenges.
In its first two years the commission has:
ensured protection for 6 million carers against discrimination in employment
answered over 70, 000 contacts a year to the helpline
resolved 80% of enforcement cases without the need to go to court
exposed exploitation of migrant workers in the meat processing sector
advised 136,000 businesses about avoiding discrimination during the downturn
distributed £14 million in grants to 285 different voluntary groups delivering frontline services across the country
revealed through a formal inquiry into the finance sector that women working full time earned up to 55% less annually than their male colleagues. The economy-wide gender pay gap is 28%.
and all this at a cost of around just £1 a year per person living in Britain.
There are many equality challenges facing Britain today which need the presence of an effective EHRC.
In addition to the over 1million young people unemployed and women’s unemployment running at its highest rate in over 20 years, other inequalities still persist, for example:
40% of disabled people have no formal qualifications
Bangladeshis (55%), Pakistanis (45%) and Black Africans (30%) are particularly likely to work in low-income employment
the pay gap between men and women remains, with women working full time still being paid on average 16.4% less than men
EHRC research shows that 30,000 women lose their jobs each year as a result of their pregnancy
lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender people may be more likely than average to attempt suicide or to commit acts of self-harm
The tribunals service annual reports show a substantial increase in the number of claims lodged in employment tribunals since 2008-9. In addition there are £350 million planned cuts to legal aid and a £1.166 billion reduction in grants to local government. At the same time confidence in the voluntary sector is at an all time low:
A voluntary sector in crisis can’t fill the vacuum left by funding cuts to local government grants, legal aid and the EHRC.
A Government that takes equality seriously would be committed to a future-proofed commission
EHRC should be able to fulfill its statutory duties as directed by parliament and the EU directives. At a time of austerity it is vital the EHRC maintains its legal enforcement powers, advisory role and connection with the grassroots. However, the cuts would make this impossible. This was made clear in the ‘ EHRC Strategic Plan 2012-15’, published on 27 March 2012 (the day before recess), in which it was admitted for the first time of the cuts that ‘... much of this reduction will need to be accommodated in the significant change programme we will deliver in the first year of this strategy.’ (p6)
Britain needs a commission that fulfils its core functions in a cost-efficient, visible manner but I can only conclude that the government is effectively seeking to close the body entrusted by parliament to protect and promote equality and human rights in Britain. At the same time the budget for the Government Equalities Office in the Home Office has gone up from £14 million to £26 million. What are we to deduce from that fact ?
Having said all of that I acknowledge, as would many of the EHRC natural allies, that it has not all been plain sailing for the EHRC.Its first three sets of accounts were qualified by the National Audit Office; there have been very obvious tensions between staff, senior management and the commissioners which have no doubt had an impact on enabling the EHRC to achieve its goals. The Government has sought to attack and undermine the work of the EHRC particularly because of issues of financial management. However responsibility for this does not lie with those who work on the help line, grants team, mediation service or in regional offices. Any such issues should be sorted out and not used as an excuse to cut essential services to those in need and those suffering discrimination. Despite concerns about its performance NGOs , unions and others as I have said still want to see an effective, robust and independent EHRC.
They want a future in which an outward looking, integrated and well resourced commission, in touch with the grassroots concerns and needs of ordinary people, provides much needed enforcement powers, advice and support to the people of Britain as they face the dire economic challenges brought about by this government’s policies.