Equality Bill 2003

		Equality Bill Introduction Background to the Bill Equality Bill 2003 (published on the U.K. Parliament website) Explanatory Notes (PDF Format, 550KB) Executive Summary of Responses to the Public Consultation (PDF Format, 139KB) Information for Media (PDF Format, 149KB) (To view PDF files you will need to download Acrobat Reader)
		House of Lords: Second Reading Debate Committee Stage Report Stage

Public Statement, 9th July 2002
SINGLE EQUALITY BILL
On 30 July 2002, a draft Equality Bill will be launched for public consultation. The Bill has been drafted for the Cambridge Centre for Public Law by Stephanie Grundy, in conjunction with Professor Bob Hepple QC, Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC and the Odysseus Trust. The Bill gives effect to the main recommendations of the Cambridge Centre for Public Law's Report, Equality: A New Framework, The Report of he Independent Review of the Enforcement of UK anti-Discrimination Legislation (Hart Publishing, July 2000).

The Bill seeks to address the serious defects in the present framework of equality legislation, setting out a single framework for eliminating discrimination and promoting equality between different people, regardless of their racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sex, marital or family status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age or disability. The Bill has been drafted in response to the Government's continuing failure to conduct a widespread review of the present fragmented, inconsistent and unsatisfactory system of legislative protection against discrimination. It goes beyond the minimum provisions required by the EC Race Directive (2000/43/EC) and the Employment Directive (2000/78/EC) in tackling all grounds of unfair discrimination in all spheres of activity, including employment, education, the provision of goods, facilities and services, the disposal or management of premises and the management of private members' clubs. It extends the positive duty requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 beyond race to sex and disability. The basic aim of the Equality Bill is to ensure the protection of the dignity and worth of every individual through a single coherent equality regime.

The Bill establishes a single body, the Equality Commission for Great Britain, with a range of statutory powers to oversee the implementation of the Bill and to encourage and enforce observation of the Bill's requirements.

The Equality Bill, together with Explanatory Notes, can be downloaded from the Odysseus Trust's website at www.odysseustrust.org. All responses to the public consultation must be received by 30 September 2002.

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