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News from the Equality and Human Rights Commission

30 June 2023

Our response to the UK Government's White Paper on AI regulation

The increased use of AI comes with an increased risk of discrimination and threats to human rights in many areas of life, from recruitment to law enforcement.

We recently responded to the Government’s consultation on the “pro-innovation approach to AI regulation White Paper”. 

We welcomed the White Paper and agreed with the overall approach to regulating artificial intelligence through the existing regulators, with additional central coordination and support functions.

However, we have noted that its proposals do not go far enough to address the risks to equality and human rights. We have called on the Government to increase investment to ensure that we can effectively regulate AI.  

Tackling race discrimination - our new panel of solicitors

We have appointed a new panel of solicitors to support our legal work, including our fund for race discrimination cases.  

Many people in Britain have experienced prejudice and discrimination because of their race. We want to improve outcomes for victims of discrimination and racial harassment.  

Our fund for race discrimination cases can help individuals who don’t yet have legal representation, and legal practitioners looking for support for their clients.  We support cases that would otherwise never have been heard – we challenge racism that would otherwise have gone unchallenged.  

We have supported cases against a wide variety of organisations including high street retailers, airlines, sporting bodies, utility companies, armed forces and schools.

One year on: our inquiry into the experiences of lower-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care

A year ago, we published our inquiry into the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care organisations. We found many issues, including evidence of widespread bullying and harassment, and the challenge of the increasing number of vacancies across both sectors. 

Since then, we have seen health and social care organisations work to improve the experience and treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers, in response to the recommendations we made.  

While we celebrate the action taken by organisations so far, there is much more to be done. Governments and health and social care organisations need to actively consider and address the impact of decisions, policies and practices on lower-paid ethnic minority workers. 

Safe Care at Home Review and our approach to social care

We welcomed the publication of the Government’s Safe Care at Home Review this month. The Review looked at care provided in people’s homes and identified concerns about safeguarding. With respect to social care provision, it highlighted funding pressures, low pay, unfilled vacancies and high staff turnover across the sector. 

Provision of high quality and safe social care plays a critical role in protecting our fundamental human rights. It protects our right to life and to be free from poor treatment.

Equality legislation is also vital for social care. This legislation means that we should all be treated with dignity and respect when using care services, and not face discrimination or harassment.

Our recently-published approach to social care sets out nine clear principles for putting equality and human rights at the heart of social care. We hope these principles will help inform the Government’s implementation of the relevant actions for change identified in the report. The principles should also guide regulators in their work to improve standards of social care provision and be used by providers to embed equality and human rights into their practice.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This month the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published its Concluding Observations which contain a number of new recommendations to improve children’s rights in the UK.

These are the first set of Concluding Observations from the Committee since 2016, and they highlight ‘deep concern’ in several areas, including persistent discrimination against children, long waiting lists for mental health treatment, and the high number of children living in poverty.

We were pleased that many of the recommendations reflect the concerns we raised in our submission to the Committee published in January.

We have urged the UK and Welsh governments to implement the Committee’s recommendations and will seek to work with them, and others, to drive this forward.

Using the Istanbul Convention to tackle violence against women and girls 

In July 2022 the UK Government ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (typically known as the “Istanbul Convention”). The Convention imposes obligations covering many forms of violence against women and girls, including relating to prevention, the prosecution of perpetrators, and the protection of survivors. 

Council of Europe experts are currently evaluating the extent to which the UK Government is meeting these obligations to tackle violence against women and girls. This is known as the “Baseline Evaluation”. Findings and recommendations will be made at the end of the Evaluation to shape government work on this important issue.

We will be hosting a webinar on Thursday 20 July from 10:00 – 11:30 for civil society organisations working on violence against women and girls or related issues in the UK, to increase understanding of the Baseline Evaluation and the process for getting involved.

Our work in social care - webinar recording and resources

This month we held a webinar to look at our recent inquiry into challenging decisions about adult social care in England and Wales. We discussed our findings and recommendations, and how we can work together to support their implementation in England.

We were joined by Local Government Social Care Ombudsman and the Care Quality Commission. We also shared our view on what social care looks like through an equality and human rights lens.

These webinars are available with transcripts and presentation slides available in the recording descriptions.

Protecting the right to peaceful protest

Having the right to a peaceful protest is fundamental to a democratic society. This month, Parliament debated the Government’s draft regulations to the Public Order Act 1986 that could curtail this right.

The draft regulations attempt to reintroduce thresholds for the definition of ‘serious disruption’ that Parliament itself rejected as recently as February during the passage of the Public Order Act 2023. We published a detailed briefing on these provisions in January.

These measures could fundamentally change the way in which peaceful protests are policed and we urge Parliament to protect the right to peaceful protest. 

Illegal Migration Bill briefing - House of Lords Report Stage

In preparation for the House of Lords Report Stage on the Illegal Migration Bill, we published our latest briefing which advises Peers to support a series of amendments that seek to ensure that human rights protections are maintained.

We are seriously concerned that the Bill risks placing the UK in breach of its international legal obligations to protect human rights, and exposing people to serious harm.

Provisions providing for the detention of children and pregnant women, and removing protections for victims of trafficking and modern slavery are particularly worrying.

Upholding the rights of vulnerable people in care homes 

We recently intervened in an appeal in the case of Maguire v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde. This case was brought by the mother of Jackie Maguire, a person who had Down’s syndrome and learning disabilities who died whilst in residential care. 

We intervened in this case to ensure that the rights of vulnerable people in care homes are upheld.

We are disappointed by the judgment from the Supreme Court which ruled that people who live in care homes, who are deprived of their liberty for their own good, are not in the same situation as prisoners and other similar groups.

Therefore they have the same human rights protections that apply to the general population. 

We will continue to argue for further protections for the most vulnerable members of our society, and hope that in the future deaths like this can be prevented.

Our consultation response to the Major Conditions Strategy

Tackling health inequalities is one of the most important challenges facing the UK and it is widely known that protected characteristic groups experience disparities in health risks, outcomes and experiences. 

We welcome the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) Major Conditions Strategy consultation and have responded by calling on the Government to consider the needs of all protected characteristic groups as defined by the Equality Act. 

It is important that this Strategy identifies any disparities between such groups and sets out how these will be addressed.

Our evidence: Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

The Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill is an opportunity to review the way data collected in the UK is governed. However, we consider that the proposals in the Bill do not offer strong enough safeguards against this. We are also concerned at the implications for equality and human rights of a few of the Bill’s provisions. 

We recently cautioned against measures in the Bill that may weaken protections, safeguards or governance around the use of data until these risks are better understood.

Advancing equality in devolved administrations in England

The devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is embedded in UK constitution. The purpose is to ensure that decisions that affect people’s lives (their education, health, prosperity and security) are taken democratically by bodies that sit closer to them.  

We use regulatory powers to ensure that new bodies meet Britain’s equality needs, and those of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Recently, we have been working with devolved administrations in England to help them embed equality in their everyday work delivering services.

As this work continues, we will share our findings and approaches so that others can consider how this can be of use to their own organisations to help make Britain a fairer place for all. 

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