HC Deb 02 May 1990 vol 171 cc566-7W
Mr. Leighton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Equal Opportunities Commission letter suggesting amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act was received; and when he intends to reply to it.

Mr. John Patten

The EOC's formal proposals for amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 were received in March 1988. The Government are considering the commission's proposals, but we shall not be in a position to reply until we have been able to consider the results of the commission's review of the Equal Pay Act 1970 which we await in due course.

Mr. Leighton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what would the increase in the grant in aid to the Equal Opportunities Commission over the last six years have needed to be to have kept in line with inflation.

Mr. John Patten

The table sets out the information requested for the last six years and also gives details of the grant in aid the Equal Opportunities Commission will receive in 1990–91, subject to approval by Parliament.

Year Equal opportunities commission's grain-in-aid Increase in EOC's grant-in-aid over the previous year Increase needed to keep pace with inflation1
(£) (£) (£)
1984–85 3,387,000 219,000 157,450
1985–86 3,434,000 47,000 181,543
1986–87 3,538,000 104,000 116,756
1987–88 3,716,000 178,000 189,637
1988–89 3,810,000 94,000 264,580
1989–90 3,894,000 84,000 247,650
1990–912 4,579,000 685,000 253,110
1 Calculated using the GDP inflators.
2 Subject to approval by Parliament.

Mr. Leighton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many lawyers the law and enforcement divisions of the Equal Opportunities Commission have.

Mr. John Patten

The Equal Opportunities Commission has four lawyers who provide a service to the commission as a whole.

Mr. Leighton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers the Equal Opportunities Commission has to take cases to court directly; and how many they took last year.

Mr. John Patten

The Equal Opportunities Commission has powers to take cases to court directly under sections 71, 72 and 73 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. In addition the commission is recognised as having locus to seek judicial review through its duty to work towards the elimination of discrimination.

In the 12 months from January to December 1989 the commission took proceedings in three cases under section 73 and one under section 72. It also applied for judicial review in one case.