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News from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Monday 2 September 2024 |
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| Welcome to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's latest newsletter.
In this edition you will find a summary of our work in August 2024, including: - Highlights
- John Kirkpatrick appointed as our new Chief Executive
- Our Strategic Plan 2025-2028: Your views welcome
- Blog from our Chairwoman on recent violence across the UK
- Legal and regulatory action
- Former soldier wins apology from Army for alleged racist and sexist abuse
- Claimants win landmark tribunal case against British Airways
- Investigation and assessment into the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- Guidance and advice
- Updating our guidance and providing tools to prevent sexual harassment at work
- Consultation responses
- Assisted dying for terminally ill adults (Scotland) Bill consultation
- Human rights
- Our report and evidence to United Nations on major disparities faced by some ethnic minorities in England and Wales
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Highlights | | John Kirkpatrick appointed as our new Chief Executive |
John Kirkpatrick has been appointed as our new Chief Executive.
Prior to joining the Commission as Deputy Chief Executive in October 2023, John was Investigations Delivery Director at the Trade Remedies Authority, responsible for investigating the need for post-Brexit import tariffs. He was previously a senior director at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), working on regulatory issues in education, transport and health, and leading the CMA’s horizon scanning and intelligence function.
Following an early career in the Department of Employment and Department for Education, he worked at the Competition Commission, the Audit Commission and at the consultant McKinsey & Company. He sits on the Quality Assurance Committee of the Office for Students.
John has served as our Interim Chief Executive since April 2024. | | | Read more about John Kirkpatrick's appointment | | Our Strategic Plan 2025-2028: Your views welcome |
We are just over halfway through the public consultation on our upcoming three-year Strategic Plan.
This twelve-week consultation encourages individuals and organisations to share their views on our future direction as Britain’s independent equality and human rights regulator.
We have identified three key areas where we can drive improvements and create long-term change. These are:
The Strategic Plan landing page has now been updated with the Word versions of the survey in both English and Welsh.
These documents are for information purposes only. You must submit your response to the consultation through the online survey. If you cannot to use the online survey, or need a reasonable adjustment, you can: Visit our website to read more about the consultation and to give your views. The consultation closes on 3 October 2024. | | | Read more about our Strategic Plan 2025 – 2028 consultation | | | Fill in our consultation survey | | | Access alternative formats of our plan: BSL video and Easy Read | | Blog from our Chair on recent violence across the UK |
Our Chair, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, has written a blog sharing her reflections on what we should learn from the recent violence and disorder across the UK.
In her blog, our Chair condemns the violence, beginning with the original attack in Southport, reflects on the causes of the disorder, and discusses the Commission's role in fostering good relations between different groups in society. | | | | Read the blog from our Chair on recent violence in the UK | |
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Legal and regulatory action | | Former soldier wins apology from Army for alleged racist and sexist abuse in case supported by our fund for race discrimination |
Kerry-Ann Knight, a former soldier who fronted British Army recruitment campaigns, has received an apology and a substantial financial settlement from the Ministry of Defence, after allegedly being subjected to racist and sexist abuse.
We provided funding and assistance to assistance to Ms Knight, as part of our legal support scheme for race discrimination cases. Ms Knight told an employment tribunal that she believed she had been repeatedly racially abused by colleagues. She claims her experiences left her feeling that the Army was ‘institutionally racist’.
The discrimination claim was taken to an employment tribunal, but the parties settled before a final judgment was made. The Ministry of Defence’s apology and financial settlement does not contain an admission of liability by the British Army.
Tackling discrimination, harassment and victimisation in the uniformed services is one of our strategic priorities for 2024-25. The programme of work, which focus on fire services, police and armed forces, aims to support change in these workplaces through guidance, training and enforcement action. | | | Read more about the case of K Knight v Ministry of Defence | | | Claimants win landmark tribunal case against British Airways |
We have helped claimants facing employment discrimination win a landmark tribunal case against British Airways (BA).
The case affirms the legality of protection from indirect associative discrimination, which is now contained in Section 19A of the Equality Act 2010. Indirect associative discrimination means that a policy which discriminates against a protected group, such as women, because they are more likely to be carers, also discriminates against those who are not part of that protected group but experience the same disadvantage. In this example, that would be men who are carers.
The claimants in the case, who are former members of BA cabin crew, were challenging changes the airline made to their employment terms and conditions in 2020. These changes, including less predictable working patterns and shorter periods at home between shifts, were alleged to be discriminatory.
The judge agreed with our intervention in the case and dismissed BA’s appeal. The UK Government also intervened in the case to ask for BA’s appeal to be dismissed. Had it been successful, it could have paved the way for a direct challenge to the legality of Section 19A of the Equality Act 2010. | | | Read more about the tribunal case against British Airways | | Investigation and assessment into the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions |
The call for evidence survey for our investigation and assessment into the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has now closed.
We are investigating whether the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, or her employees or agents at the Department for Work and Pensions, have broken equality law.
We would like to thank all those who provided evidence, your contributions may be vital to the outcome of our investigation and assessment.
We will consider all the evidence that has been submitted and publish our findings in a report in due course. | | | Read about our investigation and assessment into the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | | | Read an Easy Read summary of why we are doing this investigation and assessment | |
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Guidance and advice | | Updating our guidance and providing tools to prevent sexual harassment at work |
We are updating our technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work following a public consultation. Thank you to everyone who took part in the consultation.
Our guidance will be ready for when the Worker Protection Act 2023 comes into force on 26 October 2024. The Act will introduce a new legal obligation for employers to take reasonable steps to protect their workers from sexual harassment.
Our updated guidance will help employers, workers and their representatives understand the extent and impact of harassment in the workplace, their obligations under the law, and best practice for effective prevention and response.
We have also published a toolkit to support orchestra managers and those with HR responsibilities in the music industry to prevent sexual harassment at work. Working in partnership with the Independent Society of Musicians, our toolkit outlines the law on sexual harassment and provides clear advice on steps orchestras should take to prevent sexual harassment. | | | Read more about the proposed new sections of our sexual harassment guidance | | | Read our toolkit for orchestras on preventing sexual harassment at work | |
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Consultation responses | | Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill – call for evidence |
We have responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s call for evidence seeking views on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
Our advice focuses on ensuring the rights of protected characteristic groups are upheld, should the Bill be introduced.
Our response calls for strong safeguards and considers the need for clear and consistent definitions of capacity, mental disorder and terminal illness. These definitions should be reached following engagement with disabled people’s organisations and other key stakeholder groups. | | | Read our response to the consultation on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill | |
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Human rights | | Our report and evidence to United Nations on major disparities faced by some ethnic minorities in England and Wales | |
This month we submitted our latest report to the United Nations Committee for the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
In our report, we raised concerns about the different experiences many people from different ethnic minority groups face across healthcare, justice and employment in England and Wales. Serious areas for concern include the criminal justice system, work and employment, house and accommodation and mental health. Our report makes several recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments to help address these issues.
Senior leaders and colleagues from across the Commission attended the UN evidence session in Geneva where they presented and discussed our CERD report. We also provided travel grants to the following organisations to give evidence to the CERD committee: The Traveller Movement, Race Equality Network, Black Equity Organisation and Prevent Watch UK. | | | Read our report submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | |
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