Philippa Shaw - "Building A New Anti-Discrimination Organisation"

This is the text of a talk given by Philippa Shaw, Director of the NW Commission for Racial Equality at the Branch meeting on 7th July 2004.

Philippa was warmly welcomed to the meeting and she began by talking about the DTI and Commission's summaries of their proposals to merge the Commissions covering race, disability and gender into a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) which will additionally have responsibility for combating age discrimination.. She described the main activities planned for the CEHR.

At present only the CRE has the promotion of good community relations in its remit. It will support groups by mediating on conflicts between communities and promote understanding. It will also support local work, including help for the Racial Equality Councils, in the field of race relations. The CEHR will have a duty to develop relationships with local media, help to promote "joined up" relationships between the public and private sectors and encourage a business response to the continued calls for consultation on a wide range of topics. Again, only the CRE has done this so far.

Another of the functions of the new organisation will be the issuing of statutory codes to organisations on how they must fulfil the requirements of equality legislation. It will promote the business case for diversity and provide practical assistance to organisations, developing a database of examples of good practice. The CEHR will conduct investigations into organisations, including public bodies (the CRE is currently investigating the police and prisons services). It will act as a single source of advice on all equality issues and give support, especially to public bodies, e.g. in education.

Philippa said that the new Commission must work "hand in glove" with public bodies. However, there are 44,000 of these and the existing CRE has just 195 staff.

Implementing the Race Relations Amendment Act of 2000 will be a priority area as will be the promotion of "cross sector learning" on equality issues.

The new body will work more regionally than the existing bodies; at present only the CRE has regional offices.

There are currently ~8,000 enquires per month coming into the CRE and the new Commission will continue to give expert advice to individuals, continuing to work with local organisations such as the RECs.

The single body will bring together information on all aspects of discrimination using a wide range of media, including internet and telephone and will be able to refer people to other appropriate bodies, if necessary.

Philippa advised those especially interested to read the full white paper, if possible, and get involved in the consultation exercise currently taking place at various locations around the country (including in Manchester). She said that the summary is also very useful. Personally, she thinks that the new Commission is a good idea but that the white paper isn't clear enough, especially on the issue of human rights.

Philippa's talk was followed by questions:

Anne talked about the current situation with regard to funding of the Bolton REC and the help given by Brian Iddon. If it gets the funding it has applied for then it will be able to continue its work; if not it might have to close.

John thought that, in a town with a large ethnic minority population, that would be a disgrace. There was further discussion and a number of points were made, including one from Noelene who said that it isn't clear how the new equality legislation would be implemented.

Graham thanked Philippa for her contribution and Ian and Sheila for the use of their home and their hospitality. He declared the meeting closed at 9:28 pm.

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