Labour to open phone helpline on equality
By Rachel Sylvester
FIRST there was NHS Direct. Now the Government is setting up “Equality Direct”, a telephone helpline to advise people on how to deal with discrimination.
The service, aimed at employers and employees, will handle inquiries about any form of inequality which could be based on race, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation. Lawyers and counsellors will advise staff about their rights and warn companies if a policy could leave them open to challenge in an industrial tribunal.
The Government-funded advice bureau will combine elements of the work of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the new Disability Rights Commission, but these will continue to operate independently. Ministers are expected to announce a pilot scheme. Proposals to encourage employers to take on older people, including a big advertising campaign, are expected to be announced next week.
The helpline, part of the Government’s “equality agenda”, is a compromise drawn up because ministers have backed off from the idea of a single body to promote equality across the board. In Opposition, Labour proposed the establishment of a new Human Rights Commission, combining the work of the three existing commissions, to police the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law.
That plan has been shelved because ministers believe a single commission would be too wide-ranging to be effective. After examining a similar body in America, they decided that it would almost certainly concentrate too much on litigation rather than highlighting research and education.
Labour Left-wingers and human rights lobby groups will be furious that the Government has shelved plans for a single commission even though the Human Rights Act will be implemented in October. The Liberal Democrats will see it as a further betrayal by Labour because the proposal for a Human Rights Commission was included in the two parties’ joint paper on the constitution.
The proposal for a “one-stop shop” helpline will be resisted by some businesses concerned that it could lead to a stream of litigation from employees encouraged to assert their rights. Companies, however, have told the Government that the current system is too complicated and unwieldy. “Businesses don’t like having to deal with three separate commissions and three separate bits of legislation so we are looking to provide a one-stop service,” a minister said.
The helpline will offer proactive advice to employers on implementing family-friendly policies at work, such as setting up crèches or introducing more part-time jobs.
The Department for Education and Employment will launch a campaign to stamp out age discrimination next week. An advertising drive will be backed by research showing that older people can make a valuable and cost efficient contribution in the workplace.
The Equal Opportunities Commission has been commissioned by the department to draw up a code of practice for companies against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. It will say that they must give the same benefits to all couples, homosexual or heterosexual.
10 February 2000: Section 28 skirmish is prelude to a war on inequality
15 July 1999: Bosses must prove sex bias innocence
5 April 1999: European human rights law for Britain is facing long delay
5 July 1997: Ministers drop plan for human rights authority
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