Harman announces equality panel

Harriet Harman, minister for equalities, announced a new initiative to probe deeper into the causes of inequality at last month’s TUC Congress.

The National Equality Panel, headed by Professor John Hills, director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at LSE, working closely with the TUC, will have the task of investigating the complex interaction of factors that cause disadvantage and providing an analysis of equality trends since 1997.

Speaking in a session focused on equal pay and the continuing extent of workplace discrimination, Harman underlined the progress made on equality issues under the Labour government, reiterating the new duties and powers that will come into force with the Equalities Bill, including strengthening the roles of union equality reps.

Despite Harman’s endorsement in her speech of the work and the enforcement capacities of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), some union delegates at Congress were critical of its lack of teeth. Comments covered its failure to investigate and enforce contraventions of equality duties, its limited resources, it’s “one size fits all” approach to equality, and the lack of monitoring and auditing of progress.

Unions termed the Equality Bill a “milestone” that could be “the most important piece of legislation for a decade” and urged the minister to ensure it included sufficient enforcement powers to avoid it becoming a “single act of mediocrity”. (See article on the EHRC.)