White Paper on inequality is welcomed

Jun 30 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

STRONGER measures on equality are needed. The fact that last week’s launch of a new White Paper ahead of a Single Equality Bill has been met with neither rapturous endorsement nor stinging criticism probably means that Harriet Harman has got the balance of the new requirements on employers and public-sector agencies about right.

Interestingly, other than the usual bizarre extremes, no one seems to be saying that we don’t need more action in tackling inequality and diversity issues.

We have enjoyed more than 30 years of equality legislation in the UK and well over 150 years of equality campaigning, but inequality of opportunity and outcome remains prevalent.

Unequal pay between men and women is reducing, very slowly, but is still between 12% and 30% depending on how you measure it; the rate of employment between under-served groups such as disabled workers or certain BME communities, especially young Pakistani men, is increasing but remains woefully behind the rate for white men.

We could extend this analysis into goods and services, or access to learning and skills opportunities, where particularly older workers are discriminated against. These are particular considerations for our region where the employment rate for over-50s fares very poorly compared to the rest of the UK.

This same age group is less likely than any other working-age group to be participating in training and skills development – at the same time employers continue to be concerned about skills shortages and skills deficiencies in existing staff.

There is much to be welcomed in the White Paper. Allowing companies to take positive action where candidates for new jobs are equally qualified is encouraging, but many of the best companies already do this.

Perhaps the biggest impact will come from requiring the public sector to use its purchasing power to facilitate more action on equality.

Local government, the NHS, the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus and the RDA, in this region, collectively spend an enormous amount of money – at least £3bn – on goods and services.

The White Paper invites this to be used to progress equality and diversity outcomes by demonstrating equal pay.

It is perhaps not unreasonable to demand those companies in receipt of large public-sector contracts to contribute much more practically to challenging inequality over the longer term.