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News from the Equality and Human Rights Commission    

Thursday 5 June 2025

Welcome to the latest newsletter from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  

In this edition, you will find a summary of our most recent work, including: 

• Highlights  

  • Code of Practice consultation opens  

  • Meeting with the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights

• Advising Parliament and governments  

  • Promoting accessible transport with our response to the Bus Services (Wales) Bill 

  • Responding to Welsh Government consultation on accommodation guidance for Gypsy and Traveller communities 

• Guidance and advice  

  • Preventing sexual harassment in fire and rescue services – new survey 

  • Recommending new standards around restraint in schools 

Highlights  

Code of Practice consultation opens  

We opened a public consultation on updates we have made to our Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, following the Supreme Court’s judgment of 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers. 

We are asking for views on whether these updates clearly articulate the practical implications of the judgment and enable those who will use the Code to understand, and comply with, the Equality Act.  

The consultation closes on Monday 30 June 2025 at 11.59pm.  We urge all interested parties to respond to the consultation. Responses should be submitted using the online form on our website. 

We will consider every response carefully and amend the draft Code where necessary. The final Code will be submitted to the Minister for Women and Equalities for approval and parliamentary review. 

Meeting the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights   

Our Chairwoman, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, and Chief Executive, John Kirkpatrick, met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, this month. The High Commissioner leads global efforts to promote and protect human rights and supports governments and civil society to uphold international human rights standards. We discussed our strategic priorities and the implementation of human rights standards.  

We were also pleased to spend time talking with the High Commissioner alongside the Scottish Human Rights Commission and Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. We discussed our shared commitment to advancing human rights protections and fostering meaningful partnerships between UK National Human Rights Institutions.

Advising Parliament and governments 

Promoting accessible transport with our response to the Bus Services (Wales) Bill 

We responded to the Bus Services (Wales) Bill, providing advice on the Bill’s equality and human rights implications and opportunities to support an accessible transport system for Wales.  

In our strategic plan for 2025 to 2028 we set out how we will work to remove barriers to public transport for older and disabled people. Barriers can include digital exclusion, poor information access, inadequate staff training and inconsistent facilities. 

While the Bill requires Welsh Ministers to consider accessibility, we recommend explicitly embedding equality requirements and the Public Sector Equality Duty within the legislation.  

We welcome further discussions with the Welsh Government.  

Responding to Welsh Government consultation on accommodation guidance for Gypsy and Traveller communities 

We responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation on accommodation guidance for Gypsy and Traveller communities.  

Our response focuses on the need to design the guidance through a human rights lens, considering potential impacts on the rights of Gypsy and Traveller communities, including the in particular highlighting the right to adequate housing under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).  

We note that authorities must engage with communities in line with the Wales-specific duties of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).  

Guidance and advice   

Preventing sexual harassment in fire and rescue services – new survey   

We are asking those working in fire and rescue services what action their organisations are taking to prevent sexual harassment. We want to understand what further support would help employers meet their legal obligations to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection Act 2023. We published guidance in September 2024 on employers' legal obligations to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. 

Announced in an open letter to all fire and rescue services in England, the survey is part of ongoing work in our new strategic plan to tackle racial and sexual harassment in uniformed services.

The survey closes on 1 July. 

Recommending new standards around restraint in schools 

We have recommended several changes in our response to the Department for Education (DfE) consultation on its ‘Use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions’ guidance. We have called for national training standards for restraint and new requirements for schools to record restrictive interventions.  

This work follows on from our inquiry into restraint in schools in 2021. We have reiterated our conclusions, namely that government guidance should be reframed in line with the Human Rights Framework for Restraint, so that the starting point for advice is to minimise restraint. 

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